Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday said that the people of the state are suffering due to hefty water bills.
In a statement, Thakur criticised Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s government for its ‘vyavastha parivartan’, stating that the people are constantly troubled by arbitrary orders.
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The Jal Shakti Department is also contributing to this distress, with reports of poor water quality leading to the spread of diseases like jaundice.
He mentioned that people in Jogindernagar had seen an increase of Rs 1,000 in their water bills, which led to protests and a warning of a larger movement if the increased bills were not withdrawn.
Similarly, in Theog, the department issued a bill of Rs 45,000 to a consumer despite no water connection or pipeline being installed.
Thakur accused the government of troubling the people and making them pay for its failures.
He called the sudden increase in water bills unjust and stated that the government was using the people as a means to increase its revenue. He claimed that the government was exploiting the situation to fill its coffers by manipulating the billing system.
Thakur sought intervention at the administrative level to resolve these issues, warning that if the problems were not addressed, the BJP would be forced to protest on the streets.
Thakur also pointed out that under the central government’s ‘Har Ghar Nal Jal’ initiative, over 12 lakh water connections were provided in Himachal Pradesh, but the current state government had imposed a Rs 100 per month charge on each connection.
He further noted that the previous government had waived water bills in rural areas, benefiting millions of people, but now the state government was looking to charge for every connection.
Thakur expressed surprise at the Chief Minister’s decision to raise funds through these charges and warned that the involved ministers would soon face consequences when the public votes them out.
