Thane: ₹400 crore water bill of UMC waived off by state industries minister

Thane: In a meeting chaired by state industries minister Uday Samant at his Muktagiri residence on Sunday, Rs400 crore water bill of Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) was waived.

About 140 million litres of water are supplied to ULMC through Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation.

UMC has been sanctioned a quota of about 120 MLD and above that 20 MLD of water was being charged at Rs12 per thousand litre. The industry minister Uday Samant has decided to bring the rate to Rs8 per thousand litre.

'MIDC charging excessive rates'

Additional Commissioner Jamir Lengarekar said, “MIDC was charging excessive rates for supplying water to the UMC over the earlier sanctioned quota and the civic body was not paying it, the arrears of the Ulhasnagar civic body were increasing over the years. The meetings were held under the chairmanship of the industry minister Uday Samant on regular follow-up by MP Shrikant Shinde.”

“The Minister directed MIDC to plan in such a way that UMC pays the principal amount of about Rs200 crore in proper instalments over the next ten years by waiving such penalty charges. Therefore, the huge burden that UMC was going to face has been reduced and crores of rupees will be saved,” Lengarekar said.

He added, “Under the guidance of UMC commissioner Aziz Shaikh, the civic body is planning various developmental works. Since the decision is in the interest of the UMC, the funds will be saved and used for development.”

The meeting was attended by MIDC senior officer BD Malikner, UMC superintendent engineer Sudhir Nage, Additional Commissioner Karuna Juikar, Jamir Legarekar, deputy commissioner Dr Subhash Jadhav, executive engineer Parameshwar Budge and engineer BS Patil.

Samant instructed the MIDC officials that due to the low-pressure water supply from the Shahad pumping station, the shortage was faced in the Shahad, Shantinagar, Vitthalwadi areas of the city.

He also directed the officials to restore the water in camps 4 and 5, where the supply was interrupted for a day.