Raghav Chadha, vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board on Tuesday (September 29, 2020), announced that the utility has issued notices to several central government departments, including Railway, Delhi Police, and Municipal Corporations asking them to pay the outstanding dues amounting to Rs 6,811 crore within 30 days.
While addressing the press conference, the vice-chairman said, notices were also issued to the Central Public Works Department and Delhi Development Authority between September 1 and September 15.
During the press conference, Raghav Chadha said, COVID-19 has hit the economy hard and governments across the country were facing financial challenges. “It is imperative that these outstanding dues are paid so that the DJB can deal with the financial challenges”, he said.
DJB vice-chairman further claimed, “Railways owes Rs 3,283 crore to the DJB for the services provided, the Delhi Police is yet to pay bills worth Rs 614 crore, while CPWD has to clear dues amounting to Rs 190 crore”. “The DDA owes Rs 128 crore, East Delhi Municipal Corporation Rs 49 crore, North Delhi Municipal Corporation Rs 2,466 crore and South Delhi Municipal Corporation Rs 81 crore”, Chadha said.
However, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash rejected the DJB’S demand for dues and said they are “baseless’’. “ The charges were being leveled to hide to the failures of government”, he said.
Railways also claimed that it has been paying monthly water bills to the DJB regularly but there are “some connections which do not exist on-site” and has reservations regarding a “large number of unmetered connections”.
Chadha said, if dues are not cleared within the stipulated time, the board will be left with no other actions but to initiate coercive actions until full and final payment is recovered. “We also have our financial obligations, we would like to urge that all agencies pay the outstanding dues within 30 days,” he said.
