To
The Chief Engineer
DDA Dwarka Project Office
Manglapuri, Palam
New Delhi
Sub: Discrepancies in water billing for flat owners of Sector-19, Pocket-2, Dwarka (DDA SFS Flats)-regarding.
Sir,
The undersigned, President of RWA, is constrained to bring to your kind notice on behalf of RWA, about the glaringly unjustified discrepancies and irregularities in the water bills, presented by your good office, in respect of the residents of this pocket, for your kind, just, intervention and favorable consideration please.
The residents of this pocket are in receipt of water bills, presented by your office, since December-1997 up to March-2009. Bills in some cases amounts up to Rs.22,000 to Rs.30,000.
According to your concerned subordinate departments these bills are said to include pending arrears awaiting decisions of adjustments if any.
You may understand Sir, when the residents of this pocket are paying electricity bills, telephone bills and other Govt. Taxes and duties, what has prevented them from paying water bills regularly.
The reasons for this may be as given below:
- DDA is supposed to supply adequate quantity of potable water to the residential flats of this pocket. But time and again, even today, DDA has shown its inability, inefficiency and its incapacitation to do so.
- Water booster pump and generator for supply of potable water was installed and made functional by DDA officials only from the month of March-1999. Before that there was hardly any supply of potable water to this pocket.
- Allotment letter to the allottees were issued by DDA in Jan-1998, but DDA subordinate offices are charging water bills since Dec-1997.
- Since possession of flats by allottees, in most cases, Water meters in respective flats were found non-operational and missing along with water meter protection boxes. This is due to general apathy towards duty by JEs in-charge concerned.
DDA JE in-charge and staff concerned were simply not bothered to install the missing water meters along with water meter protection boxes. They resorted to easy method of preparing water bills on flat rate basis at the cost of residents which may be due to orders from their superior authority.
It shall be much appreciated if as a special drive and on priority basis, it is undertaken by your good office to install water meters in all the flats taken possession by allottees. This shall resolve the issues and grievances of residents regarding water bill being over charged presently on flat rate basis, being done by your subordinate offices, without taking into account whether the flat is occupied or not.
- Currently adequate potable water is not being supplied to this pocket. Ground water full of impurities and hazardous elements is being mixed by concerned water supply contractors appointed by DDA to satisfy residents water needs. Booster Pump generator in most of the time remain non operational due reasons best known to DDA, causing failure to supply water to residents during lengthy power failures/over load.
Hence Residents are compelled and forced to procure bottled water from market, to satisfy their needs.
Water booster pump Operated by DDA dose not appear to be of adequate capacity to pump water to flats over head storage tanks. Individual Residents are compelled to install extra tanks/pumps at ground to store water and pump it later to over head tanks. In this process each individual is also spending extra on electricity bills and extra installations charges.
The above actions of residents leads to occupation of common open spaces of corridors and drainage, leading to many health, fire and building hazards, leading to natural national resource wastage.
In such conditions, DDA must heed and understand, is it not reasonable on part of residents to not to prefer payment of water bills.
- This pocket seems to have been jurisdiction divided amongst three or four JE Civil, by you. At times residents are at loss to understand which JE to be contacted and what/where to be contacted for water and its billing problems.
To amicably resolve and settle the non payment of water bills by residents, RWA governing body of this pocket here by requests you on behalf of residents of this pocket request DDA to kindly consider following administrative suggestions submitted below:
a) Kindly arrange to let know which flats are under which JEs. Bring under administrative jurisdiction of one DDA works division. Present arrangement of jurisdiction by WD-6, WD-8 and WD-9 to be dispensed here with immediately and RWA to be notified about finalization of WD division number.
b) JE responsible for water billing to report in pocket premises at a pre designated place and coordinate with the pocket RWA at least once in a week for a full day, to resolve residents billing issues.
c) JE water billing shall intimate with a notice to each and every resident to resolve billing issues at the earliest at a referred place within the Pocket premises. Summarized detailed notice copies shall be pasted on notice board and RWA for coordination with residents.
d) DDA on priority basis to start and undertake a special drive to install water meters along with protection boxes in respect of all flats taken in possession by allottees. Installation records to be shared with RWA for future further coordination and intervention.
e) Exorbitant, unjustified water bills, surcharges and disconnection notices presented to residents may be suspended and to resolve each and every residents bill in consultation with RWA.
f) Immediately Start consumption based water billing and Flat rate water billing adopted may be dispensed force with.
g) RWA suggestions shall be included as inputs to DDA and due care shall be given to those suggestions by DDA while initiating all developmental activities by DDA in this pocket.
Lastly on behalf of RWA of this office it is humbly requested to give us an appointment at the earliest for coordinating by this RWA on this and various other pending issues with DDA, with regards to our residential pocket please.
With Best Regards,
Yours truly
(Digvijay Pratap )
President
RWA, Sector 19 Pocket 2
Dwarka, New Delhi
