Delhi Jal Board to direct provide water connection to consumers

Delhi Jal Board (DJB) will provide household water connection to all the consumers, and intermediaries will be removed, the Delhi government said in a statement.

"DJB will provide household water connection to all the consumers. It includes laying water pipelines and installation of meters at consumers' premises. This approval will help in resolving complaints of water contamination, reduce unauthorised connections and will increase the number of functional meters in the network of the board," said the statement, issued on Tuesday night after Delhi Water Minister Satyendra Jain held a meeting with DJB officials.

The DJB currently maintains over 13,000 KM of water pipeline network but the connection from the DJB pipeline to individual households was the responsibility of individual consumers.

The statement said, "Many times, it was observed that due to damaged pipeline and leakage at joints, contamination was caused, which could not be resolved by DJB because it was beyond its jurisdiction. With the new policy, DJB can now rectify problems of old pipelines in existing colonies as well as provide new meter connections in upcoming colonies."

For meter connections, DJB approved a cost of Rs 4000/- for colonies under A, B, C category; Rs 2000 for D and E category and a flat rate of Rs 1,000 for F, G, H category colonies and villages, respectively.

For commercial connections, the rate would be double of domestic category, i.e., Rs 8,000; Rs 4,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively.

Other than that, a project for installation of 20 MGD (Million Gallons per Day) RO plant at Okhla, constitution of a water and sewage committee for better coordination, updating new slabs under the financial assistance scheme for the rainwater harvesting system and upgradation of the Sewage Treatment Plants were agreed upon by the water minister, the statement mentioned.

DJB has also approved the project of installing a 20 MGD RO plant at Okhla Water Treatment Plant that will provide 20 MGD drinking water which will be supplied to the public through an existing conveyance system. The raw water to the RO plant will be supplied from the lakes and groundwater with shallow levels. The project is expected to be completed by May 2022, it added.