Ranchi Municipal Corporation’s water board members at the meeting on Tuesday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Come October and Ranchi residents who want to dig borewells would have to pay water tax.

The water board of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) on Tuesday approved the tariff for different types of borewells, though it decided keep wells with four-inch radius openings free.

While a resident who wants to dig a six-inch radius borewell would have to make a one-time payment of Rs 1,000 to RMC, if a deep borewell is to be installed for an apartment, each flat owner would have to pay Rs 500.

In case of a deep borewell for non-domestic use, the person constructing it would have to make a one-time payment of Rs 5,000. If the borewell is for industrial purpose, the one-time payment would be Rs 10,000.

However, if any firm wants to dig a borewell to extract mineral water from the ground, it would have to initially pay Rs 25,000 and renew its registration with Rs 5,000 every year.

“An RMC team visited different cities of the country and as per its suggestions, the new water tax was formulated. The water board today approved the tax system,” said Suresh Sahu, chairman of RMC water board.

The water tax had been introduced in April this year, but following loud protests from residents and different political parties, the RMC was forced to withdraw it. Following this, a team was constituted by the civic body, which visited Chennai and Bangalore to study the water tax system there.

The tax on deep boring is only for six-inch openings while four-inch boring, usually carried out by households for domestic use, has been kept outside the purview of tax. Besides, the original April plan of taxing digging of ponds and wells too has been withdrawn. No tax would be levied on residents who dig wells and ponds.

Sahu also said owners of drilling equipment would have to register their machines with the RMC for Rs 25,000 per machine. The firms also have to renew their registrations every two years by paying Rs 10,000 per machine.

“If drill owners do not register the machines and engage them in works, they would have to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh,” said Sahu.