No free water in rural areas to people with annual income exceeding Rs 50,000

All water consumers in rural areas of Himachal Pradesh will no longer enjoy the facility of free water supply as the domestic consumers with annual income above Rs 50,000 will have to pay Rs 100 per month. Besides, the commercial establishments will be billed according to kilolitre.

The State cabinet which took the decision to increase the revenue and curtail the subsidies on Thursday also decided to provide metered water supply to commercial establishments like hotels and home-stays and bill them on commercial rates.

"Domestic consumers with annual income above Rs 50,000 will have to pay Rs 100 per month as water bill while the business establishments like hotels would be charged as per kilolitre and the money collected will be utilised in improving the quality of drinking water," said Sukhu.

However, certain underprivileged sections including widows, destitute, 'ekal nari' (single woman), handicapped and other weaker sections will continue to get water free of cost.

During the past few years, hotels and home-stays have mushroomed in rural areas and these are enjoying free water facilities while the hotels in urban areas are being supplied water and electricity at commercial rates.

"The Jan Shakti Department which is operating about 10,000 water supply schemes in the state is suffering revenue loss of about Rs 800 crore due to supply of free water," said an official.

The previous BJP government had decided to supply water free of cost in rural areas in May 2022, ahead of assembly polls and it resulted in huge losses to the Jan Shakti Department which is maintaining and running these schemes, he added.