Currently, these households are not covered under the free water scheme because of the complexity of tracing water and sewerage connections passing under rows of houses, an official statement said.
On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government will provide 20,000 litres of free water each month to every household in B K Dutt Colony, which has not been covered under the free water scheme so far. Chairing a meeting of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), the chief minister said the residents of East Kidwai Nagar and New Moti Bagh will also get the benefit of the free water scheme.
Barring a few people, families living in B K Dutt Colony had migrated to Delhi as refugees. They initially depended on common toilets and utilities and later started constructing personal toilets in their homes from the common water connection.
Currently, these households are not covered under the free water scheme because of the complexity of tracing water and sewerage connections passing under rows of houses, an official statement said.
New water pipelines were laid out in the area about four years ago so that connections could be given from scratch but a lot of residents didn't show interest. The major reason was the connection charges of Rs 7,500. Kejriwal said these charges should be waived to provide water connections and 20,000 litres of free water to every household in the colony.
"We are working on a mission to ensure that each and every government facility and scheme reaches every resident of Delhi. There's no point of a policy under which connection charges are so high that they cannot be borne by citizens. There's no need to keep the connection charges of Rs 7,500. We can waive this amount and extend benefits to the residents at the earliest," he said.
Officials told the chief minister that some residential complexes in the NDMC area are also facing problems in availing the benefit of the free water scheme. This includes societies in East Kidwai Nagar and New Moti Bagh which have been functioning on bulk water supply.
"Because of this, the residents did not have any end-user point water metres. This led to a situation where they could not get benefits of the 20 kilolitre free water scheme. There were complaints from the residents living here in this regard," the statement said.
Kejriwal directed officials to ensure that 20 kilolitres of free water is provided to the residents of these societies every month.
-With PTI Inputs