General body meeting to move automated water meter plan shelved thrice

Navi Mumbai: The attempt to implement the general body's 2008 resolution of installing automated water meters for connections with pipelines of over 15 mm diameter failed to take off for the third time. The ruling party adjourned the general body meeting after taking objection to the absence of the civic chief from the meeting.
Many developmental projects such as drafting the development plan, surveying properties using high-end technologies are pending for approval.“The commissioner’s absence from the meeting depicts his disregard for the general body. The administration has been instructed to suspend any action on installation of automated meters but it is not being adhered to. Instead, there are reports of connections being cut,” said the mayor, Sudhakar Sonawane.
But additional commissioner Ankush Chavan, who presided over the meeting, said that NMMC will continue with the implementation process. “The installation of automated meters is being done as per the resolution passed by the general body in 2009 after a Rs 230-crore fund was availed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Under the scheme, every consumer was to have automated meter in 3 years. This is now being addressed,”he said.