CHENNAI: Metro water board fails to show report

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on February 13, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/metro-water-board-fails-to-show-report/247572.html

CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is dragging its legs on providing information sought by a consumer, despite an order from the State Information Commission to do so. Metro Water was directed to provide a copy of the field report, used to calculate water usage charges.

According to R Natarajan, a research scholar and RTI activist, Metro Water is yet to furnish the report which had been used to raise water usage bill to Rs 54,000 against the actual charges of Rs 10,000 for domestic users over a  five year period.

The issue came up for hearing at the State Information Commission last month and Metro Water was told to provide Natarajan a copy immediately.

“When my friend L Shivshankar from Abhiramapuram received a hefty bill in 2009, we were enraged over the callousness of the agency in calculating charges for domestic users,” Natarajan said.

While Metro Water asked Shivshankar to pay the amount to avoid a line cut, Natarajan met the top officials of the agency and managed to revise the billed arrear amount to Rs 11,936. Once this amount was fixed, Shivshankar paid it.

Natarajan then filed an RTI plea with the department to get proper details about on what basis the amount (Rs 54,000) was fixed as arrears for his friend Shivshankar, who regularly paid his water dues.