Bihar people will now have to pay charges for their water consumption. The charges for water will be taken on the basis of the area of the houses. More than 19 lakh households in the state will have to pay charges for the water usages.

Once the cabinet approves it, users will pay 30 to 125 rupees per month depending on the area of ​​their home. Everyday people will have to pay from Re 1 to Rs 4 depending on the divisions done in the draft based on the area of homes. Thus no meters will be installed for it. People will pay the fixed amount i.e. Rs 360 to Rs 1500 per year.

The City Development and Housing Department have designed the draft for Water User Charge Policy 2019. The charges will be collected along with holding tax. The amount of water usage charge will be added in the property tax bill.

However public is reacting differently to this new water charge. Public doesn’t seem to be comfortable with the basis of this charges.

Though the charges are minimal, the charges should be based on per head usage because there are many houses with big area with less people living in it. Also the students living away from their family in hostels, PG and rents will have to suffer hikes in rent charges. As there will be no meters installed, house rents, hostel and PGs will increase their charges arbitrarily.

Tanya Trivedi

  Bihar, water