Water tariff hiked in Pindi

The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) has 'unexpectedly' increased the household and commercial water bills for the third time this year. The water bills for houses, which were previously set at Rs616, have now been raised to Rs926.

A total increase of Rs310 has been applied for smaller houses, while WASA has also started billing different floors of houses separately. In the next two months, the overall monthly bill for smaller houses will be set at Rs1,080. These bills will see an additional increase of Rs154, bringing the total monthly bill to Rs1,080 from January 1.

The Punjab government has ordered all institutions to bear their own expenses instead of relying on government funds due to the severe economic crisis and to enhance their revenue.

Despite the start of the new fiscal year 2024-25 and being in its fourth month, no grants or development funds have been released yet due to the severe financial crisis. As a result, water bills for residential and commercial units have been increased from 300 to 500%.

Sources in WASA said that the increase in water bills was implemented four months ago.