Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Jul 10: Most of the citizens of the city, who had complained to the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) about the non-receipt of water bill since the month of April, were in for a shock when they received the bills a few days ago.

Rakshith, a resident of Kavoor, who runs a hotel used to receive a water bill amounting to Rs 1,500 on an average every month. However, this time around he received a bill for Rs 18,000. Similarly, Vamana, a resident of Kunjathbail, who used to get a bill of Rs 80 every month was served a bill for Rs 850.

Apart from these instances, there are several people who have received unusually high amount on their water bills received this month.

Goof up due to untrained personnel

Ten years ago, a tender was given to private companies to provide water bills throughout the city. However, there were complaints that certain parts of the city were not getting the bills. In order to resolve this issue, the MCC assigned personnel from its malaria control unit to carry out this work.

As the contract with the private companies got over in the month of April 2018, the MCC gave this responsibility to the staff of the malaria control unit. Due to the assembly elections in May and the untrained new staff, it was not possible for the MCC to provide water bills to all the 60 wards of the corporation. In addition, two months of April and May were considered as the training period for the staff deputed from the malaria control unit.

The issuing of the bills has started on June 1. In the midst of all these chaos, the citizens are facing the brunt of astronomical bills.

Intention to increase the revenue

The MCC would have to bear an additional financial burden if the billing is outsourced to private companies. So the MCC thought that it would save cost if the personnel from its malaria control unit can do the work of issuing the water bill when they go for spraying of chemical to control malaria. So one malaria programme worker (MPW) was deputed for each ward.

Mayor instructs officers to resolve the issue

"I am aware of the differences in the water bills issued a few days ago. I will get information from the concerned officials to locate the source of the issue. All the officials will be instructed to take care in future to prevent the recurrence of the same," said K Bhaskar Moily, mayor of MCC.