Ranchi, June 1: Pay for the water you drink.

Effective today, the Jharkhand government has introduced water charges for people living in the urban areas of the state.

The order, the notification for which has been issued, will affect residents of municipal corporation areas of Ranchi, Dhanbad, 41 municipalities and many notified area committees (NACs), among them those at Mango, Jamshedpur and Adityapur.

Under the new rules, the respective water boards of the municipal corporations or the water work committee of the municipalities will levy the charge on the basis of the built-up area of the house. Residents can also install water meters at their cost for which separate rates have been fixed. (See chart)

According to the notification of the urban development department, those living under the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) area will have to pay water charges in addition to the water tax assessed on the holding tax.

At present, RMC does not charge separately for water. However, the holding or property tax collected by it is inclusive of water tax.

?The holding tax is charged on the basis of built-up area of the house. Out of this, 12.5 per cent goes for water tax. That means a person possessing a flat/house of built-up area of 1,000 sq. feet pays Rs 700 annually of which only Rs 87.5 goes to the water board,? said an official.

Accordingly, those having a built-up area up to 100 square metre (sq. m) will have to pay Rs 150 per month, from 101 sq. m to 200 sq. m (Rs 250 pm), from 201 sq. m to 400 sq. m (Rs 400 pm) and above 400 sq. m (Rs 600 pm).

Connection fee for the four categories will be Rs 1,000, Rs 1,200, Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 respectively. This will be applicable for both domestic and non-domestic users and for municipalities and NACs also.

However, those who do not want to pay the charges on monthly basis can also install water metres for which connection charges have been fixed ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 10,000 depending on whether water is for domestic or commercial use. Water charges have been fixed ranging between Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kilolitre.

In case of municipalities, charges range from Rs 135 per month to Rs 540 per month while in case of NACs, the charges range from Rs 120 per month to Rs 480 per month.

If the residents want to install water metre, they will have to pay connection charges ranging between Rs 1,500 and Rs 10,000.

Water charges in the municipalities range from Rs 4.50 per kilolitre to Rs 9 per kilolitre while in the NACs, they vary from Rs 4 per kilolitre to Rs 8 per kilolitre.

Consumers who opt for water meters will have to pay the charges within the stipulated period mentioned in the bill, failing which an interest of 2 per cent per month will be charged on the bill amount. Failure to pay for three consecutive months will lead to disconnection and reconnection charge of Rs 1,000 will be imposed.

The government has also introduced a flat rate of Rs 5 per kilolitre in the areas falling under the Mineral Area Development Authority (MADA), Dhanbad. This will be effective from the second quarter of 2006-07.

The move is aimed at boosting the revenue of the civic bodies. A senior RMC official said: ?The drinking water and sanitation department is charging Rs 20 per thousand gallon from us. This way the department charges Rs 1 crore per month for water and, therefore, Rs 12 crore per annum. But the RMC has an annual earning of Rs 7 crore. In this situation, it is not possible for us to pay for the water services,? sources said, adding that RMC owes more than Rs 100 crore to the drinking water and sanitation department.