NewzVille Desk
Delhi Government Water Minister Parvesh Verma announced on Thursday that the Delhi Jal Board has given approval to waive off 100% of the Late Payment Sur-Charge (LPSC) on pending water bills for all domestic users.
Speaking at a Press Conference Verma said the upcoming scheme will offer financial relief to lakhs of households struggling with inflated bills. However, the waiver will not apply to commercial users.
“DJB’s billing software is Oracle-based and very old. If we insert the amnesty feature, it will crash. We are migrating data for 15 lakh (1.5 million) consumers to a cloud-based system. Once that’s done, the waiver will be implemented,” Verma said.
He further said the roll-out will take some two months, after the upgradation will be done. Verma added that Delhi Govt. is also considering scrapping the compound interest model and reducing surcharge rates to curb inflated bills.
The detailed guidelines are yet to be announced. On Wednesday, Verma had a meeting with the Delhi Jal Board’s senior officials to chalk out the waiver scheme of pending bills.