Recording an increase in water bill payments, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday extended its Abhay Yojana scheme till March 31, 2021. This is the second time BMC has extended the deadline of the scheme in 2020.
Consumers need to pay their monthly water bill within one month from the date of receipt, failing to do so the civic body would impose an additional 2 per cent charge on the payment amount per month, for late payment.
Under the Yojana scheme, Mumbaikars are exempted from paying the additional 2 per cent on pending water bills. Earlier, in August 2020, the civic body had extended the deadline till December 31 in view of the pandemic outbreak.
In an official statement, BMC has appealed to Mumbaikars urging them to pay all the outstanding bills by March end, to avoid late penalties. “Customers are requested to pay the outstanding amount of bills on water meter rent by March 31. Please contact the assistant engineer (water works) department at your nearby ward office and avail the advantage of the scheme,” BMC stated in its statement.
The civic body supplies an average 3,850 million litres of water to the city daily and this year the body had set up a target of procuring Rs 1,535 crores as sewerage and water supply charges. Earlier in August, outstanding charges worth Rs 2,000 crores were pending from two lakh consumers. Senior officials from the hydraulic engineering department, informed following the extension imposed on August, more people started to clear their dues to avoid paying outstanding amounts of bills.
"More people started to pay the bills following the deadline extension in August. Hence to encourage the consumers and to make sure that more people come forward to pay the bills, we have extended the date further till March," a senior official from the hydraulics department told FPJ.
