Pay pending water dues or face disconnection: MCC warns defaulters

Mysore/Mysuru: In a fresh bid to recover water tax dues from defaulters, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has warned such consumers of disconnecting their water supply and underground drainage connection.

In a press release, MCC Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy said that the water bill dues of domestic, non-domestic, industrial consumers etc., has run up to a whopping Rs. 195 crore. With such a high amount of dues, the MCC is finding it difficult to manage the water supply system in the city that covers all 65 Wards of MCC. As such, all the consumers are required to co-operate with the MCC by clearing their water tax/bill dues at the earliest without fail. Else, the MCC has no other option than disconnecting water supplies and UGD connections of water tax defaulters, the release said. 

Disconnection drive 

 Meanwhile, it is learnt that following a direction from the MCC Commissioner, the MCC officials have launched the drive for disconnecting water supplies and drainage connections. 

Sources said that the MCC, which had started issuance of notices to defaulters a week ago, has now embarked on a disconnection drive with the staff visiting about 50-60 defaulter homes every day for recovery of water tax dues.

Major defaulters 

Out of the Rs.195 crore dues that the MCC is to get, the offices of Government Departments account for Rs. 60 crore, which form a major chunk of the dues. 

The  major defaulting Departments include CESC, Health Centres run by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Police Residential Quarters etc. Also, villages around the city that receive water supplies from Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW), account for Rs. 24 crore dues.

As MCC is facing a severe financial crunch, it has become inevitable for the Civic Body to recover all dues to it under various heads, including water tax. 

With the recovery drive, MCC hopes to push up its coffers at least to some extent so as to meet a significant percentage of its maintenance expenditures.