PHOTO: FILE
The water bills for hotels, ice depots, stores, plazas, cinema houses, laundry services, beauty parlors, barber shops, petrol pumps, service stations, cottage industries and factories have been increased by the agency in a bid to meet its expenses.
According to minutes of a recent meeting held by WASA authority, the revision has been made after a unanimous decision. As per sources, there would be no billing for mosques and other holy sites.
Water rate for residential units up to five marlas has been increased from Rs98 to Rs225 monthly while housing units between five and seven marlas will be charged Rs400 monthly after an increase of Rs160.
Similarly, the residents living in houses between seven and ten marlas will be paying Rs500 after an increase of Rs220 while bills for units between 10 and 15 marlas has been increased to Rs650.
Residential plots between 15 and 20 marlas will be charged Rs800 after an increase of Rs375 while those between 20 and 25 marlas will be charged Rs1,000 onwards from previous Rs625. The residential units sizing between 25 to 30 marlas will pay Rs1,200 instead of Rs688 under water charges while those between 30 marlas up to two kanals will pay Rs1,450 from the previous rate of Rs795.
The residential units over two kanals will pay Rs1,500 monthly instead of Rs833. In Sohan Village, houses up to 10 marlas will be billed Rs150 instead of Rs94 charged earlier while homes with sizes over 10 marla will pay Rs300.
Meanwhile, water bills for commercial units have also been hiked under which petrol pumps will be charged Rs15,000 instead of their previous monthly bill of Rs8,829. Likewise, water bill for service stations has been hiked to Rs12,000 monthly from instead of previous charges of Rs7,063.
WASA has increased the water bill for cinema houses to Rs5,000 monthly from previous rate of Rs3,531 while for laundry service providers, the charges have been escalated to Rs10,000 monthly from Rs2,500.
The small barber shops will pay water consuming charges of Rs1,000 monthly while a shop with at least seven workers would have to pay Rs7,000 monthly.
The water charges for crockery, bakery and general shops have been increased from Rs375 to Rs1,500 monthly while big and departmental stores and cash and carry marts will be charged between Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 depending on their consumption.
The water charges for soda and bottle making factories have been hiked to Rs6,000 from Rs2,119.
In the categories of industries, cottage industry will pay Rs1,000 monthly while for a medium-sized industry, the charges have been set as Rs1,500.
The monthly water charges for tent shops will vary between Rs1,000 to Rs3,000 while restaurants would pay up to Rs5,000 according to their category.
The water charges for wedding halls and marquees would vary according to the size of their staff. An establishment with a staff of 20 people would pay Rs1,000 while Rs3,000 would be charged from those with 60 member staff. For staff exceeding 60 people, the water charges have been fixed at Rs5,000.
Further, the private schools have also been divided into eight categories which will be charged between Rs800 – Rs3,000 monthly.
The same pattern will be followed for the hospitals which will be charged from Rs500 to highest Rs15,000, according to the category they fall in.
The charges for public toilets have climbed to Rs1,000 from Rs883 while the water bill for ice factories has been increased from Rs5,298 to Rs7,000 monthly.
The authority will start preparation of water bills according to new rates after approval of Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar. The decision is expected to bring more difficulties for people who are already suffering from inflation.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2019.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ