Shocked by water usage bills running into thousands of rupees, residents have vowed not to pay up till the inflated bills are rectified.
Dwarka residents protest high DJB bills, stop traffic in Dwarka on Sunday
Residents of different cooperative group housing societies in Dwarka on Sunday congregated outside the main gate of the MTNL exchange and protested against the abnormally high water bills they received from Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The protesters were holding aloft the inflated bills sent by DJB during their demonstration.
Some residents also stopped traffic to express their anger against the inflated bills. Some residents also showed their respective bills running into lakhs of rupees.
General secretary of Federation of CGHS, Sudha Sinha, showed a bill for an amount of Rs 1 crore for DGS Apartments in Sector 22. She exhorted the residents to not pay the bills till the issue was resolved.
The residents shouted slogans against the injustice and questioned how the civic authority could raise such hefty bills for water. The protests will continue till a solution is found to the problem, a resident said.
Nidhi Gupta, a member of Federation of CGHS, said, “DJB should have issued a circular or notice for the bills or penalties. This is not justified. They should do a survey and then make the bill. Only offenders should be prosecuted. Societies that were following guidelines should not be penalised.”
President of Federation of RWAs of Sector 9, Advocate KS Bhati, said, “The arbitrary imposition of such hefty penalties in the name of rain water harvesting and sewage as well as use of authorised borewells is not sitting well with the people of Dwarka of 351 societies. Most of the societies that received such bills have already raised objections and recorded their protests with the authorities. This decision of imposing a penalty is one-sided and unjust.”
The residents formed a human chain and also tried to stop traffic at the traffic signals in Sector 1, 3, 6 and 7 of Dwarka.
The main demand of the residents was for fresh bills with revised charges, without sewage charges and penalty for rain water harvesting. First there must be a proper survey before coming out with such bills, the residents said.
