Anxiety among public after media report on water tax hike

The public reaction comes in the wake of a report in the local dailies though no official announcement was made regarding the tax hike.

People of the town, currently supplying water to the capacity of around 60 million litres per day (MLD) to around five lakh residents through the Hogenakkal combined water scheme and Palar river, were in for a surprise when reports in local media suggested that the corporation was mulling over doubling of tax for both domestic and commercial connections.

When asked about the report, official sources stated that under the Smart City project, water would have to be supplied as per the demand, like electricity. “To avoid any gap between the supply and demand, Vellore needs more overhead tanks and additional pipelines to reach the unconnected areas. In addition, the corporation has to pump water round the clock to maintain ‘on demand’ supply and this will result in an increase the cost of the local body’s power bills,” officials explained. “Thus, if we have to either break even or to avoid excess expense, the cost has to be passed on to the consumer. So, if such a situation arises, then tax rates may be hiked,” they added.

However, even under the present distribution process, there have been complaints that water was not reaching many areas. When asked about this, corporation commissioner C Sivasubramaniam said, “A local will know the increase in the per capita supply over the years. We provide water once in two days and for areas where it does not reach easily, we pump for additional time to ensure that it does.”