As the current financial year came to end on 31, March, the water supply department of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) is struggling hard to achieve its tax collection targets. As a part of the recovery drive, a total of 107 connections (one and half inch) were disconnected for unpaid water bills till Saturday 30, March.
Notably, the MBMC disconnected some of the connections supplying water to Western Railway's (WR) various administrative units at the Bhayandar railway station which owes nearly Rs.75 lakh, officials said. The action followed after the users including the railway department failed to clear their water dues despite several reminders and notices issued by the civic administration.
MBMC's Recovery Efforts and Water Supply Restoration
The MBMC had set a target of recovering 100 percent dues amounting a little over Rs.90.75 crore which includes penalties and rollover dues. However, the collections hovers at around 93 percent as the water supply department has managed to deposit a little over Rs.85 crores in the tax kitty till 30, March, 2024. As per the MBMC registry, a total of 44,887 water lines including 41,683 for residential usage and 3,204 for commercial/industrial purposes have been issued in the twin-city. “Despite several reminders and notices a section of users failed to comply, leaving us with no other option but to initiate the disconnection process.
The WR officials have assured to clear the due at the earliest. To ensure that commuters do not face any type of hardships, the supply has been restored.” said executive engineer (water)-Sharad Nanegaonkar while urging citizens to clear their water bills at the earliest.
MBMC's Water Supply Disparity and Financial Obligations
As against the requirement of more than 225 MLD, the twin-city has an allotted supply of 221 MLD, provided jointly by the MIDC (135 MLD) and Shahad Temghar (STEM) water authority (86 MLD) water supply authority.
The MBMC is obliged to pay an average of Rs.6 crore per month towards water bills to both the agencies. However, the actual supply continues to hover between 188 to 192 MLD due to short supply.
