Water tariff revision certain in Bengaluru, says D K Shivakumar

Flagging off new initiatives by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Shivakumar said that there has not been a revision of water tariff for nearly 14 years now and this has been affecting the operations of the board.

Bengaluru: Bengaluru residents have to brace up for a hike in their water bills as the state government will soon revise water tariff in Bengaluru, 

Come what may, the government is committed to revise the water tariff in the city, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Thursday. 

Flagging off new initiatives by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), DKS said that there has not been a revision of water tariff for nearly 14 years now and this was affecting the operations of the board. 

“The revision in water tariff is inevitable. The board is not able to pay up power bills and employee salaries. To ensure water supply to the city, the supply network has to be expanded and this is being done by taking loans from various organisations. Without a tariff revision, BWSSB cannot survive anymore,” he said. 

He added that the government will stick to the revision decision even if oppositions or protests erupt. However, DCM also hinted that the tariff revision might not be uniform across all the categories of users. 

“The tariff will not necessarily be increased for all categories of users. The extent of increase is still being discussed,” he added.

No privatisation of water supply 

DKS also asserted that he will never approve of the proposal to privatise water supply in the state. 

Referring to earlier proposals during J H Patel and S M Krishna’s tenure, he said that he had studied the model in various countries and opined that it was not suitable for Bengaluru. 

“During S M Krishna's tenure there was a huge discussion on it and I was sent to France and other countries to study their model of privatisation of water supply. However, I was convinced that it would not work well for Bengaluru and submitted a detailed report on the same,” he said.

DKS takes a dig at citizens

Appreciating the BWSSB’s work during the water crisis, DKS thanked the officials on behalf of the citizens. Taking a dig at the citizens, DKS said that people are not grateful for the work BWSSB is doing.

“I thank all the BWSSB engineers for the efforts they put in during the water crisis in summer. Citizens do not remember the good work done by the board. They are only worried about the water supply to their houses. If there is no regular supply, they complain, call and scold the officials but do not understand the efforts behind providing these services,” he said.