CM Sheila Dikshit finds a way to defend bill shocker

NEW DELHI: Chief minister Sheila Dikshit has asked Delhiites not to be suspicious of their huge water bills and understand that they are being billed only for what they are consuming.
Speaking at a Water Utilities Summit on Monday, Dikshit said there was a wrong perception that Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was benefitting from the new water bills. "But the billing system is not suspect.Consumers feel DJB is making a profit from these but the reality is Delhiites are being charged for what they consume. Previously they were not being charged for it but now one must pay for what they use."
DJB implemented a new revenue generation system last year following which bills recorded an enormous jump. DJB attributed it to better meters that were showing actual consumption and in some part to problems with DJB's old data which is being rectified.
The CM said Delhi was reliant on other states for water and often could not get as much as it would like as other riparian states would have their own problems. "We have to ensure an equitable supply of water with limited resources and the only way to do that is by managing demand. The tanker service leads to wastage of water. Once all parts of the city have piped water, we will do away with tankers," she said.
Referring to Delhi's falling groundwater levels, she said it was no longer an option to extract more. "We lose a lot of water through leakage and these need to be plugged."