MARGAO: Aggrieved over hefty water bills, residents of Davorlim and Navelim confronted officials at the PWD office at Fatorda on Tuesday and demanded an explanation.
Residents said instead of issuing bills on a monthly basis, the PWD has issued them a one-time bill for water consumed for six months
The protesters also claimed that the cumulative tally of units consumed for six months had led to errors in computation of the amount billed to consumers.
“It’s beyond my means to pay such a hefty amount of Rs 2,000 that I have been billed for,” a protester said.
PWD officials maintained that the bills have been computed as per the slabs notified and that there were no errors. “Though the consumers have been billed for the last six months at once, computations were done to deduce their monthly consumption,” an official said.
PWD officials said that 39% of the consumers were billed zero amount, while for over 49 % of the consumers, the bills were calculated as per the old slabs.
They said as the water supply department has now introduced a spot billing system, disputes over water consumption figures would be eliminated.
