MCC hikes water tariff; spares domestic users

• Commercial/industrial connections, non-domestic will be paying more from now

Mangaluru: Hike in water tariff for non-domestic, commercial/industrial connections excluding the domestic users has been approved by the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council in its meeting on Wednesday. The council also agreed to hike the tariff for water supply connections for building constructions.

The approval comes four months ahead of the elections to the Council and bearing in mind the upcoming elections, the ruling Congress did not hike the water tariff for domestic connections. There was also no pressure from the opposition BJP either.

The council also passed the hike in the tariff for Mulki town panchayat, Ullal city municipality, Bala and Chelyar gram panchayats and for Father Muller Charitable Trust for its hospital at Thumbe for supplying water from the Thumbe vented dam built across the Nethravathi River.

Post the ratification of the approval by the council next month and issuance of the notification oon the same, the hike will come into effect.

Domestic users tariff unchanged

Since there is no change in tarrif for domestic users, they will continue to pay a minimum of Rs 65 for the first 24,000 litres as against Rs 218 mooted by the State government per month.

Changed tariff for non-domestic users

The monthly minimum tariff for non-domestic users in Mangaluru has been hiked from Rs 304 for the first 18,000 litres to Rs 360 for the same quantity of water. Thus the minimum tariff has been hiked from ₹26 per a kilo litre (KL) (1,000 litres) of water to ₹34 per KL.

Changed tariff for commercial/industrial users

For commercial/industrial users, the monthly minimum tariff has been hiked from Rs 608 per 18,000 litres to Rs 730. Thus the hike per a KL of water was up from Rs 52 to Rs 60.

Water supply for building construction

Those availing water supply for constructing buildings would now have to pay a minimum of Rs 1,200 per 20,000 litres per month against ₹1,040 earlier. The hike per KL of water will be from Rs 52 to Rs 60.

Panchayat tariff hiked

The tariff for Mulki town panchayat and Ullal city municipality has been hiked from Rs 5 per a KL of water to Rs 7. Tariff has also been increased from Rs 3 to Rs 7 for Bala and Chelyar gram panchayats.

Tariff has been increased for Father Muller Charitable Trust’s hospital at Thumbe and henceforth will be paying Rs 7 per KL instead of the earlier Rs 6.