Come November and even those households which are getting 20Kl water free of cost will have to cough up at least Rs100 per month as the AAP Government has decided to implement Cabinet-approved proposal to impose a ‘environment compensation tax’ ranging from Rs100 to Rs500 depending on the categories of colonies. The tax amount will be added in Delhi Jal Board’s water bills from October. The households, which are not in the billing network of DJB, will be required to pay the levy added in their electricity bill.
According to decision, a household falling in the A and B categories will have to pay Rs500 per month as environmental compensation fee. A household in the C and D type colonies will have to pay Rs200 per month, while a house in colonies in E, F, G and H categories will have to pay
Rs100 per month.
The proposal could not be implemented earlier as power discoms had refused to collect the levy amount from water consumers citing that they were regulated by DERC and only DERC can issue order for collection of the tax.
Both the Congress and the BJP on Saturday dubbed the move a backdoor method by the Kejriwal Government to recover the losses incurred on providing free water up to 20Kl every month to a house.
lambasting the AAP government, former Power Minister Harun Yusuf alleged that to make for subsidy losses, the AAP Government has decided to put additional tax on the people of Delhi in the name of ‘environment compensation tax’. “The Kejriwal Government claims to be the Government of the aam admi, now he has put up extra financial burden on the common man,” he said.
BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri too criticised the AAP Government move saying “this Government is anti-people”. The Delhi Government has now decided to “recover” the greater amount of subsidy provided to the DJB consumers through a new fixed taxation system on sewerage, he alleged. “DJB is not able to provide water to the people of Delhi, now it has put up extra tax on the consumers,” Bidhuri said.
Following the direction of the Government, Chief Secretary KK Sharma held a meeting with DJB, power department and power discoms and directed them to implement the Government decision. Discoms contended as their billing process does make differentiation on categories of colonies, they will have to first conduct 100 surveys. Sources said that the Government told the discoms to rely on the categories marked by municipal corporations.
The levy move comes following the directives of National Green Tribunal in May this year that the Delhi Government, Delhi Jal Board and all municipal corporations, cantonment board, electricity distribution companies and all other civic authorities must collect environmental compensation fee from every household which is generating sewage in the national Capital.
DJB at present collects sewerage charge at the rate of 60 per cent of water bill. But it is collected only from those households which have sewer connections. As per census record of 2011, total household in Delhi is about 33.10 lakh. There are many households getting water and generating sewerage but not contributing toward sewerage tax.