Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation likely to spike water cost from April

Come April, and the water department of Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) might start charging the locals more for its service. The spike would be Rs 3 for every 1000 lt, a source told DNA. Earlier, the department had proposed the rise to the standing committee.

"Currently, we charge Rs 7 for every 1000 lt. We're thinking to make it Rs 10," said executive engineer R Phatak, of the water department. "The cost of purification has also gone up these days, forcing us to take the decision," he said.

The civic body supplies 310 MLD (million litres/ day) water from the Ulhas river to Dombivli-Kalyan region. An additional 50 MLD water is brought in from MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation), which is supplied across 27 villages in the region.

KDMA is already reeling under a debt of Rs 152.06 crores to MIDC, Pathak said, adding that more concerns flow in as KDMC loses 21 per cent water due to leakages daily. The civic body is already in talks with various private companies to set up an online water monitoring system in the region, he said.

"We are already burdened by an increase in the property tax. Now, this proposed hike is too much," says Raju Nalawade, a resident of Dombivli east.

"KDMC should curtail their expenses rather than imposing tax hikes on people. If this proposal is passed, we will definitely oppose it," he said.

Disapproving the proposal, Mangesh Sonawane, another local, said the civic body must first try to plug its water leakage and stop thefts.

"They should contain cases of water thefts in the area and improve the water supply before speaking about the price hike," he said.