Apartments in Bangalore

Fund-starved Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (BWSSB) is now looking for means to implement projects. If the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (Amendment) Bill, 2010, passed during the recent assembly session gets the governor’s assent, then the water board will have the power to collect money from people to implement projects.

Section 89A of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (Amendment) Bill, 2010, states- For implementation of water supply and sanitation projects, the state government may issue directions to the board for making funding arrangements, to collect capital contribution from beneficiaries of the project or through any local authority, or to borrow loans from funding agencies or to borrow from the market as per requirements.
A Detailed Project Report (DPR) for water supply and sewerage project in 110 villages is ready and awaiting government’s nod. “Once government approval is received, the finance department will decide on the funding. If they permit, BWSSB can collect a portion of money for the project from people, called beneficiary capital contribution (BCC),” officials said.

The recent amendment to the BWSSB Act 1964 (Karnataka Act 36 of 1964), passed in the assembly, gives legal sanction to the water board to collect some share of money from the beneficiaries. A senior BWSSB official said the rates would be similar to that of the beneficiary capital contribution framed on the lines of Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project (GBWASP). The amount would range between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for domestic consumers. No charges are levied for sites up to 30X40. For non-domestic consumers, the cost would increase by 10-20% as compared to domestic consumers.

“For GBWASP, we had to collect Rs 119 crore from public but we got Rs 330 crore. BWSSB repaid the mega city loan. Rs 100 crore more is expected to be collected from the public, once water is supplied to the newly-added areas,” the officials said. While implementing GBWASP in seven CMCs and one TMC, following public pressure, the BWSSB was forced to reduced the BCC amount.

“When BWSSB is not paying capital contribution to the irrigation department for drawing water from the sources, how can they levy a charge on the beneficiaries here?”  questioned Capt Raja Rao, former secretary to the government of Karnataka, irrigation department. He added that the government exempts payment for drawing water for power projects. People availing of power supply only pay deposits and the water board can work in a similar manner. If the water board is charging consumers for capital contribution, they should pay their capital contribution for drawing water from sources to the irrigation department, from the date mentioned in the Bill.

Reference: TOI