With an eye on elections, Punjab Cabinet on Monday decided to waive water bill arrears of consumers in urban and rural areas, besides bringing down the monthly water tariff to Rs 50 per connection. The waiver is set to put an estimated financial burden of Rs 1800 crore on the state exchequer.
The Cabinet also decided to waive off all the outstanding arrears of water supply and sewerage charges for domestic connections — putting an additional burden of rs 700 crore on the state exchequer.
In addition, the Cabinet also decided to provide free power to all rural water supply (RWS) schemes from October 1, 2021, providing a major relief to the residents across all the villages — entailing an annual expenditure of Rs 440 crore on the state exchequer.
