Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asked the residents of the national capital to not pay their wrong water bills and tear them away. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief visited the Govindpuri area of Delhi and met the residents regarding the water bill issue. He assured the people that the Delhi government is working to fix the wrong bills generated during the COVID-19 period based on fake readings.
“During the Corona period, readings were not taken for many months. They filled out fake readings while sitting in the office. Because of that wrong bills started coming, and the public did not pay the bills. Interest was charged on it and now the bills have reached lakhs. Around 11 lakh families across Delhi are getting the wrong bills... We have come up with a scheme to correct the old bills of those whose old bills are coming wrong,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.
Arvind Kejriwal said that he is working to fix the wrong bills and 95% of such bills will soon become zero. "Our estimate is that with this 95% of the bills will become zero...those who are getting the wrong bills, there is no need to pay, just tear it and throw it away, and I will get it fixed. LG belongs to the BJP. BJP people told LG to stop the scheme. This is wrong ..." he added.
AAP MLAs demand one-time settlement
The remarks from the Chief Minister came amid heated protests by AAP MLAs against inflated water bills in Delhi. The MLAs are demanding a one-time settlement for unpaid water bills and even passed a resolution regarding the same in the Delhi Assembly. The resolution asked Delhi L-G VK Saxena to pass necessary orders to the officials of the Delhi Jal Board to implement the one-time settlement mechanism.
“For the last 18 months, people have registered objections to the inflated bills. A person who has lived in a 22-yard house has received a water bill of ₹6 lakh... even if he sold the house, he would not be able to settle the bill. Many bills range from ₹50,000 to ₹1,00,000. The Delhi assembly wants to implement the scheme, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wants to implement the scheme... then why is the scheme not being implemented?” AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar said.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has accused the officials of government not working as per the orders of the AAP government as they are scared of reprimand from the BJP-central government.
“The officers have not implemented the scheme even though eight months have passed. The finance secretary has to write his comments (on the scheme) before it can be brought before the cabinet. The finance secretary has written in the file that he will not give any comments. Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj gave written directions to the secretary of the Urban Development Department to bring the scheme before the cabinet. The urban development secretary said he would not put up the scheme before the cabinet unless the finance secretary gave his comments. The finance secretary is saying that he will not give any comments," Kejriwal alleged.
The ministers called many officers and asked why they were doing so. A few senior IAS officers said that their jobs were at stake and that they were getting threats of suspension from the higher-ups if they passed the scheme, and may even face jail,” he added.
