Continuous water supply to 20 lakh rural households soon

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 21

In a move to enable uninterrupted water supply to nearly 20 lakh rural households, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has given his consent to a proposal of the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation to allow the government to pay pending dues of rural water supply schemes, running into nearly Rs 300 crore.

This will put an end to the frequent disconnection of power supply to the water supply schemes by Punjab State Power Supply Limited (PSPCL), due to non-payment of electricity bills.

For the final approval, the proposal would be tabled before the Council of Ministers in the coming Cabinet meeting.

Of the nearly 8,000 water supply schemes run by the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, 3,667 scheme are managed by the department and the remaining are with the Gram Panchayat Water Supply and Sanitation Committees.

Sources said under the one-time settlement scheme, PSPCL had in January this year agreed to the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation’s proposal to waive Rs 198 crore on account of penalty/surcharge on pending arrears of nearly Rs 700 crore and pay in instalments the actual charges for the electricity consumed.

For the remaining pending amount of nearly Rs 550 crore, the issue was raised by Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana in a Cabinet meeting in March this year. It was decided that the last date to clear the dues under the OTS scheme would be December 31, 2019.

It had been proposed that the Finance Department released Rs 240 crore on account of dues for actual sale of power to rural water supply schemes run by the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation. Another due of Rs 50 crore on account of electricity duty, octroi and MC tax could be waived by the government or funds be provided for the same.

For the scheme run by Gram Panchayat Water Supply and Sanitation Committees (GPWSCs) that owe near due of Rs 250 crore to the PSPCL, it had been proposed that the arrears could be cleared from funds received from the 13th Finance Commission or Rural Development Fund.

Plan to be tabled in Cabinet meeting

• For the final approval, the proposal will be tabled before the Council of Ministers in the Cabinet meeting 
• Under one-time settlement scheme, the PSPCL had in January agreed to the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation’s proposal to waive Rs 198 crore on account of penalty on pending arrears of Rs 700 crore