GVMC to give 1L water connections by Oct

Visakhapatnam: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (

GVMC

) has set itself a target of giving 1 lakh new household water connections by October, this year, under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The applicants will also be allowed to pay connection charges in eight equal installments.

As per an earlier survey, the GVMC identified 75,000 households, which did not have water connection. Households paying a property tax below Rs 500 will be sanctioned connections under the ‘below poverty line (BPL)’ category. During a recent review meet at the GVMC office, municipal administration and urban development minister P Narayana directed officials to ensure that every household in the city have access to water.

Speaking to the media, here, at the GVMC office on Saturday, GVMC commissioner M Hari Narayanan asked the public to utilise the opportunity. “We will issue notices to those households without connections and ask them to apply for water connection. Under AMRUT, we proposed 75,000 water connections for 2015-16 and 25,000 connections for the 2016-17. We have already called for tenders for these water connections. There will be no increase in the water tariff or connection charges. The objective of the AMRUT scheme is to ensure that every household has access to assured supply of water and a proper sewer connection,” said Hari Narayanan.

When asked about whether the GVMC is geared to supply water to the one lakh new households, Hari Narayanan said, the 85 MLD water treatment plant in Aganampudi will become fully operational in the next few weeks. “We have already completed the trial run,” he added.

Hari Narayanan said that Purushothapatnam Lift Irrigation Scheme (PLIS) and Polavaram will come in handy in the future for the growing demand for water in the city.

The GVMC will now collect only 50% of water connection charges as a penalty in addition to the normal water connection charges applicable to the municipality to regularise an unauthorised water connection contrary to the full penalty amount collected earlier. And it will only collect the usual water tariff for a period of 12 months prior to the date of regularization, even if the unauthorised water connection is 10 years old.