RTI reveals royal family of Nizam among water bill defaulters
9 Jul, 2013
The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that there is pending water bills of over Rs. 1,000 crore in Hyderabad due to be paid by large number of water bill defaulters including the royal family of Nizam.
The reply, provided by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB), says that there are 1,228 water bill defaulters with each having to pay arrears of more than Rs. 1 lakh on an average.
The data showed that there are arrears of around Rs. 20 lakh from four billing addresses in the name of Nizam’s family. Out of this the Misrigunj billing address has default payment of Rs. 15, 70,148, while the other addresses located in Barkatpura and Moghalpura (chief engineer of Nizam) have pending dues worth Rs. 1, 38,579 and about Rs. 2 lakh respectively. The secretary of Nizam has to pay Rs. 1.2 lakh as water bill arrears.
The reply also mentions other defaulters including central and state government agencies like Nuclear Fuel Complex, Zoological Survey of India, Air Force Academy, All India Radio, AP Legislative Assembly, Hyderabad and Rangareddy collectorates and the MLA quarters. Other defaulters include the Hyderabad international airport and the police commissioner's official quarters along with 15 other police quarters.
The board has issued notices to 800 defaulters having an arrear of more than Rs. 1 lakh.