Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) mode has been installed in order to report the exact amount of water used to be supplied to the public by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). But even today water bills are being drawn on the basis of estimated cost. To be precise, 44 per cent of water bills across the city are calculated approximately. The chief auditor of the municipal corporation said that only 56 per cent of the bills are being reported by the meter based on the usage of water.
After the purification of water from various lakes of the state, around 3,750 million liters per day is delivered across the city. The citizens are supposed to be charged for water as per their usage ans a bill must be sent in regard to it. However, for the last 18 to 20 years the charge levied on the usage is based on approximate cost. According to the Annual Report of Municipal Commissioner Suresh Bansode submitted to Standing Committee, 43.89 percent of water bills are not based on actual usage and only 56.11 percent of the water bill in this year is based on actual usage.
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The main auditor said that the water bill was made based on the previous year's usage. Many water meters have become non-functional and instead of fixing or changing them, the civic body is sending estimated bills.
BMC had started the installation of automatic water meters from 2010-11. The number of the meters was 54,990 in 2010-11, whereas in the year 2012-13, 77,876 water meters were installed.
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During the audit, it was noticed that the civic body had stored about 13,45,743 million liters of water during 2012-13, out of which 10,29,731 million liters was supplied throughout the city.But there was a 16 per cent water leaked during supplying it, seven per cent was lost during water processing and five per cent leakage during transport. The total water lost due to leakage was 28 per cent.
A 20 per cent loss by leakage was expected. In comparison to which, there was an additional leakage of 22 thousand 687 million liters of water than the fixed limit. According to the audit report, due to the extra leak during the period, BMC suffered a loss of ₹14.52 crore.
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