Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) on Saturday announced that the board will start collecting payments from those who are ineligible for, or have not registered for the government scheme providing 20,000 liters of free drinking water per month.
The managing director of the water board, Dana Kishore said during a review meeting with officials that there are 4.2 lakh users eligible for the free water scheme under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), who have not registered yet.
The HMWSSB has announced a grace period of 13 months for registrations.
Therefore, customers who have not registered for the scheme will be required to collect bills from January this year to date. Dana Kishore said the government has already waived Rs 520 crore in bills for 13 months from December 2020 to December 2021 for all household consumers.
He suggested that the people with functional meters among the 4.2 unregistered public must link their Aadhar cards to the (Customer Account Numbers) CAN and avail the scheme. “Other users also need to be aware of the need to set up a meter and connect to Aadhaar,” he said.
He said that notices to clear arrears will be sent in advance to those who have not registered for the free water scheme.
“We are setting up a call center with 30 people to provide them with information and resolve any queries on the Aadhaar connection. Phones and messages will be sent from the call center,” he said. Also, an interactive WhatsApp chat bot facility is being set up.
For queries related to the scheme, the public can reach out to the customer care number 155 313 set up by the HMWSSB or to website.
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