Before the Standing Committee is a proposal to reduce water meter penalties

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has proposed to the Standing Committee that the penalty charges levied against housing societies if their water meters are stolen or tampered with be reduced. The general public avoided paying the specified penalty charges and water meter cost if a housing society's water meter was stolen or tampered with. Furthermore, the local corporators would ask the BMC to evaluate the water meter penalty charges regularly.

 

As a result, the BMC has made certain amendments to its water tariff and sewerage laws. Private meters have a five-year validity period, while BMC-issued meters have a ten-year validity period. According to the plan, if society uses a private meter and BMC determines that the meter is faulty, the society must replace the meter within one month, and following verification of the meter, the society must pay additional fees to BMC before the new or repaired meter may be fixed. The water department has now proposed that this rule be amended to include extra conditions. The validity of private water meters has been set at 5 years by the BMC. If the society intends to utilize private meters for more than five years, it must obtain annual certification from the BMC that the meter is in good working order.

 

If a BMC-installed meter is stolen or tampered with, the BMC is utilized to recover the whole cost of the meter as well as expenses such as meter installation and penalty penalties from society. This rule has now been proposed by the BMC water department. The BMC will no longer be able to collect the total meter amount. Every year, the BMC will depreciate the value of the water meter by 10% and collect the remaining charges on society.

 

For example, if a BMC-installed water meter was fixed two years ago, BMC will depreciate the meter's value for two years before recovering the meter's remaining cost from society. "Previously, societies were required to pay the BMC the total cost of the meter as a penalty, regardless of when it was taken. As a result, the BMC and the society had various disagreements. These new provisions will encourage citizens to replace their meters as soon as possible while also allowing us to collect outstanding sums " the official stated.