Indore : The District Consumer Forum has penalised Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) for not starting water connection and still issuing inflated bills to a septuagenarian city resident.
The Forum has instructed the IMC to give water connection and take justified bill from him. It has also asked the IMC to compensate for his physical and mental harassment and the petition expenditure.
Kishanlal Joshi (74) had bought a half-inch water tap connection at his residence in Shaheed Hemu Kalani Nagar from the IMC in 2011. However, not a drop of water was received from the tap since then. He lodged complaints to the IMC officials many times but his problem was not resolved. But he was getting regular water bills. Recently, he was sent a bill of Rs 8,000. All this while, his connection was not even activated. He then approached the Forum for justice.
There was no representation from the IMC. The Forum examined the documents including the copy of the Rs 8,000 bill. In an ex parte judgment, the Forum ruled in favor of Joshi. It instructed the IMC to carry out a survey of his connection, start the water supply for the same and receive justified tax amount from him. It also asked the IMC to compensate for his physical and mental harassment and also the petition expenditure.
Not an isolated case
It may be noted that the issue of inflated water bills is not new or recent to the city. For many years, citizens from all walks of life have been complaining of the same problem. Even after running from pillar to post for redressal, their woes were not addressed. Irked residents have even staged protests against it from time to time. But a concrete solution remains elusive.
