After the voluntary disclosure scheme floated by the income-tax department, here comes a watered down version.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) is planning to dangle the disclosure carrot for consumers to legalise unauthorised ferrules on commercial and residential premises.

?The voluntary disclosure scheme being planned would cover consumers with illegal extra ferrules,? said municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

Under the proposed scheme, those who disclose illegal additional ferrules will be exempted from paying any penalty or arrears on water charges. The extra ferrules will be legalised on payment of connection fees.

The CMC expects to mop up at least Rs 50 crore under the scheme.

Chief engineer (water supply) Dibyendu Roychaudhury has been directed to set up a special team to crack down on unauthorised additional ferrule connections of filtered water on both residential and commercial premises.

According to the CMC Act 1980, a house owner is entitled to one ferrule connection on his premises. The Act also states that any extra ferrule ? legal or illegal ? will be treated as a commercial connection and the consumer will have to pay commercial rates for the water supplied.

Now, while the civic authorities will not penalise the consumer for the existing extra ferrule, they will seal it unless the consumer pays the connection fee and agrees to cough up commercial rates for the extra supply of filtered water.

For unauthorised extra residential or commercial connections in a minimum of 10-mm ferrule, the consumer will have to pay Rs 6,000 as connection charge to the civic body. Moreover, he will have to pay Rs 10 for every 1,000 litres of filtered water consumed each month.

?We must mobilise resources to foot the ever-increasing bill for supplying filtered water,? commissioner Bandyopadhyay said. ?To supply clear and safe filtered water, the CMC buys two tonnes of alum a day, pays a power bill of over Rs 30 crore a year to the CESC and salaries to 7,000 employees every month.?

According to civic estimates, there are over 250,000 residential and 7,640 commercial connections. Around 35 per cent of the total number of household connections have extra ferrules. Chief engineer Roychaudhury said the demand for an extra ferrule shot up after booster stations were set up in Bagmari, Kasba, Ranikuthi and Garfa.