PHE Deptt slaps inflated bills to consumers
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Feb 6: Much to their shock, the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has slapped the inflated water tariff bills despite the fact that the consumers have been paying the tariff regularly to the Department on year to year basis. This has snowballed into a big controversy as majority of consumers are in possession of receipts of previous years for the payments made to the Department by them against the bills.
What has come as a rude shock to many consumers in Jammu, the PHE Division City-I has issued the water tariff bills amounting to thousands of rupees with a balance of Rs 10,000-14,000 and above of the previous years and the period for which they have already deposited the fee with the Department, sources said. The Department has been totally caught unaware while issuing the inflated bills as majority of consumers’ were in possession of receipts of the previous years duly signed by Departmental officials, sources added.
Sources said there are many consumers who have been handed over the water tariff bills by the Department ending last year with a previous balance of thousands of rupees including the current balance of Rs 2000 or so while majority of these consumers are in possession of the receipts of previous years showing that they have cleared the balance on year to year basis.
Even some consumers who have the receipts since the year 2000 till date have not been spared by the Department. The consumers smelling a rat, said there could have been mistake in one or two cases but majority of them have received the inflated water bills from PHE Department.
A consumer Sudesh Kumar in outskirts of Jammu said he has been handed over a bill with total outstanding of Rs 12,762 up to ending December last year with an opening balance of Rs 10,6,62. Sudesh said that he has been regularly paying the water tariff and has receipts of the same with him since nineties which are duly signed by PHE officials.
He said “Our family has been regularly paying the water tariff and we were shocked to see the previous balance of over Rs 10,000 against our name in the bill”. He demanded a high level probe into the matter saying that how it happened when the consumers have made the payments every year they have been handed over the bills with previous balance.
Not only Kumar but hundreds of consumers by the Department have been given the bills with previous balance of thousands of years. Prithvi Nath another consumer in Ward 65 of Jammu has also been handed over the bill with previous balance of over 10,000 despite the fact that he has been paying the water tariff every year since he constructed his house in the year in 2000.
Nath said this is total fraud played with the consumers by the Department. He said when Department was collecting fee from consumers every year in the month of February and March against a proper receipt how the balance was mentioned against them in the Departmental ledgers’.
A large number of consumers showed this correspondent the fresh bills issued by the Department with a previous balance of huge amount against their names when they have paid the bills annually.
The aggrieved consumers said when they took up the issue with higher ups in PHE Department they asked them to visit their offices with receipts of previous payments for verification.
Questioning the Department, the consumers wanted to know that if the Department has not maintained the record properly, then are they (consumers) responsible for the same. It is the dereliction of duty on the part of the department officials for which the common masses can’t be made a scapegoat by slapping inflated bills on them.
“We were regularly paying the fee to PHE officials visiting us for collection of yearly tariff” said one of the consumers adding “it is not known how the Department has kept huge amount outstanding against our names when we possess the valid receipts duly signed by Departmental officials”, he added.
He demanded a thorough probe into the matter and action against the erring officials by the Department instead of asking the consumers to verify the same from records with the Department. He alleged that the officers instead of taking up the issue seriously are also behaving in an irresponsible manner when the consumers take up the issue with them.
When contacted Chief Engineer PHE Jammu, Sanjeev Kumar Chadda said that there is no proper record available at Sub Divisional level where the bills are framed and the consumers who have been issued inflated bills should visit the Divisional Office which is the appellant authority for verification of the same.
Chadda said that he has also been issued a water tariff bill with a previous balance of Rs 14,000 as he did not have previous receipts with him he is left with no option except to make the payment against the bill.
It may be recalled that recently Crime Branch has raided the residential house of one of the cashiers of PHE Department here who had failed to deposit Rs 1.60 crore in Government Treasury the amount collected by the Department as water tariff etc.
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