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Free water? This Shalimar Bagh woman charged Rs 37,000 by Delhi Jal Board

While Delhi Chief Minister launches a 20-day drive to address consumer grievances over water, a woman’s request to check into faulty water bills have fallen on deaf years of the Delhi Jal Board officials.

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Six months after a historic mandate on corruption-free regime and the promise of subsidised water for Delhi residents, one woman has recieved a shocker from Delhi Jal Board (DJB).  

Vandana Bhalla, a resident of Shalimar Bagh colony was shocked to see a water bill of Rs. 37,000 at her doorstep. It was in January 2014, when she recieved a faulty bill of Rs. 3,100 for two-day consumption. She immediately decided to pursue the matter further and discontinued the payments.

“I kept paying bills without asking any questions even though my water bill was higher than my neighbours’. But when I was charged Rs 3,100 for 2 days, I found it odd and decided to stop paying this atrocious amount and take up the matter with DJB,” she said.

She claims she has a family of three, she is a single parent with two children, who could not have such a huge water usage. It’s been a year since then and Vandana has been running pillar to post to get her query resolved.

She has been directed to Jhandewalan office and was redirected to Pitampura office of the DJB but to no avail. She also visited the Larsen & Toubro office as the water meters were installed by them, she was informed. While officials from the DJB did acknowledge that the meter reading was faulty, no adjustment was made on the bill. Today, her accumulated water bill stands at Rs. 37,000 after a year. Vandana doesn’t know whom to approach for her grievance.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is come up with yet another scheme to redress public grievances against faulty water bills and metering issues. A special drive has been launched starting from May 2 till May 20 where camps will be set up at the 33 Zonal revenue Offices (ZRO) across Delhi, the list for which is available at www.delhijalboard.nic.in.

These camps will be attended by senior DJB officials. In her case, Vandana also alleged that Neelam Kapoor, the ZRO for Shalimar Bagh with office in Ashok Vihar had refused to listen to her and said that they cannot do anything about the matter. “Everyone meets me by introducing their water bill numbers. But whoever comes to us we listen to their queries and try our best to solve them,” she said.   

"Legally, if I don’t get water one day what is my recourse? There isn’t a system or legal recourse available in Delhi even though water is my human right. I cannot hold anyone responsible," said Himanshu Thakkar, expert on water issues and coordinator of South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP). The AAP government has completely failed to set up a mechanism for recourse in such matters.

Vandana feels that perhaps the authorities don’t take a single woman parent with children too seriously. She claims she also met the Shalimar Bagh MLA from Aam Aadmi Party, Bandana Kumari, whose response was not proactive and satisfactory to her plea.

Will someone step up and help the aam-aadmi?

This article was originally published on http://www.iamin.in/

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