Kolkata to levy taxes on domestic water usage

TRIALS OF TAX: The first thousand litres of water would be exempt of tax, for a family of five.

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Kolkata: Kolkata is very soon going to tax the water it supplies to its residents.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is going to install meters for reading water usage and tax them.

As expected, the denizens are not happy about the move.

“Already we are paying a lot of taxes and water is so essential. We don’t support this. This is an extra burden for us,” complained home-maker, Chandrima Roy.

The move has also encountered opposition from one of the Left Front parties that form the KMC board, the Forward Bloc.

“Our party decision is clear. Tax the upper class, the industrialist, commercial users. Leave the slum-dwellers, the middle class,” said KMC member Dr Subodh Kumar De.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has planned that for the first 1000 litre, there would be no charges for a family of five.

For the slab of 8000-10,000 litre, Rs 10 – 12 will be charged per thousand litre.

The tax would increase to Rs 25 per thousand litre, if the consumption is between 12000-17000 litre.

The city so far has no water tax on domestic use.

The KMC is planning to import water meters from abroad to begin installing on an experimental basis from April.

With over 5 lakh houses in the city, the entire process of installing meter could take about five years.

“Initially, we will install meter at our own cost to see how much water is used and how much is mis-used. The meter will be installed and tax needs to be paid,” stated Kolkata mayor, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.

The KMC's plan to levy water tax seem to be a pipe-dream for neither does it have the meter nor the infrastructure to have the meter readings.