PMC unlikely to impose 14 per cent water charge hike

The Pune municipal administration clarified that it would not burden taxpayers and impose the 14% hike on municipal water as proposed by the irrigation department in the state. 

VJ Kulkarni, head, PMC water department said that though the irrigation department had asked for the fee hike, the PMC administration would not put up a proposal regarding the tax hike immediately. 

“The general body of the PMC has already given the nod to increase the water tax every year in order to execute the 24x 7 water project in the city. Hence, considering this background the administration does not want to implement another tax hike immediately,” he said. 

The municipal corporations are getting water from various dams which are owned by the irrigation department. The municipal corporations pay a certain amount of fee for getting the water supply from them. 

The irrigation department put up the proposal for the tax hike in front of the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA). MWRRA has called for suggestions and objections on the fee hike proposal. The irrigation department also claimed that it had not revised the fees since 2011 and the inflation gap since then has grown by 54.35%. 

Administrative sources said that there are chances that the MWRRA would give the nod for the hike proposed by the irrigation department as the water rates have been the same since 2011. 

If the tax hike gets the final nod, it will bring more financial burden on the municipal corporations. PMC officers said that the administration would not bring any such proposal immediately because it is clear that the elected members would not give clearance to it. The general body has already empowered the municipal corporation to increase water tax by 5% for the next fifteen years in order to execute the 24x7 water project.