Govt to launch water meter billing system

Aizawl, Jun 22 : The Mizoram government has chalked out various plans under Public Health Engineering (PHE) department to commence billing its consumers through installed water meters across the state by next month.

The state government has already installed water meters in all major habitations in the region at the cost of Rs 3 crore, the officials sources from PHE department disclosed here today.

To pump water from rivers flowing in the valleys, the PHE department needs around 15,000 litres of diesel a day of which nearly half is used for supplying water to the state capital alone.

At present, pumping generators are used in Lunglei, Kolasib, Serchhip, Mamit and Kawnpui, apart from Aizawl.

While justifying the launch of water meter billing system, the officials pointed out that the PHE department generates only around Rs 4 crores year from all sources while it needs to spend Rs 35 crores.

The water meter billing system would not only help to generate regular revenue for the department but also useful to keep a check on the customer usage, the officials added.

At present the state government is charging its consumers a flat rate of Rs 100 a month for the water usage.

UNI