By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The left government in Kerala Wednesday gave the nod to a drastic increase in water charges across the board — but those ‘below the poverty line’, consuming less than 10,000 liters a month, will get it for free.
The decision follows the state committee of the Left Democratic Front last month giving the green signal to the government for the hike in tariff in both domestic and non-domestic sectors. The water charges were last raised in 1999.
The charges will go up from 20 per cent to 138 per cent in various slabs of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in the domestic sector and 25 per cent to 135 per cent in the non-domestic sector.
“We have no other option but to raise charges on account of huge outstanding that the KWA owes to the State Electricity Board. The KWA has to shell out every month an additional Rs.11.50 crore (Rs.115 million) towards electricity charges after the Board raised its charges,” State Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran told reporters here.