At present, the KUKL owes Rs 1.4 billion in outstanding dues to its customers.In a bid to put pressure on the customers who have not paid their dues since a long time, the KUKL has started to cut off supply lines.
On August 14, the office plugged the water line registered in the name of Hotel Yellow Pagoda in Kantipath that had not paid its dues for the last four years. The Kamaladi branch of KUKL severed the two-inch pipeline in the presence of KUKL officials, media and police force. [break]
According to spokesperson of the KUKL Milan Ratna Shakya, a two-inch pipeline carries huge amount of water. The water which was supplied to Yellow Pagoda will now be diverted to Inbahal, Jyatha, where people have been reeling under water crisis.
“Some people are enjoying water free of cost, whereas others are facing problem despite paying their bills to the organization,” says Shakya. “We will cut supply lines to those who have been enjoying free water supply. It is because of them that other people are not getting proper water facility and we are also facing financial crisis.”
Although the pipeline was registered in the name of Hotel Yellow Pagoda, the building is owned by Anil Raj Bhandari.
KUKL has identified more than 10,883 supply lines to homes that have not paid water tariff since long time.
In the first phase, KUKL is targeting clients that owe huge dues.
“We are compelled to cut the pipelines of such customers. If a customer refuses to pay dues, then we would be left with no option but to cut the pipes that supply water to their homes,” says Shakya.
“We had sent notices to all our costumers who have huge outstanding dues. Most of them have not contacted the office yet.”
According to Shakya, KUKL had issued a public notice in November 2012, asking the clients who have not paid their dues to contact the organization within 35 days. As it got very poor response, KUKL reissued the appeal in April 2013.
In the second notice, the organization urged those who were not paying their dues because of any problem, such as water crisis, poor condition of pipelines, to report their problems by submitting a request form. KUKL had pledged to address the problems as far as possible.
“We will provide all possible help to our customers once they contact us. Most of them submit request forms and do not follow up. People must contact the organization until their problem is resolved.”
According to Shakya, once the supply line is cut, the customer has to start the registration process anew to get the connection back.
Water shortage continues even in monsoon
The total demand of drinking water in the Kathmandu Valley is 350 million liter. Currently, Kathamndu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) is supplying 120 million liter of water in the valley. According to Milan Shrestha, spokesperson at KUKL, it is not bad as the volume is still higher than what it used to supply during dry seasons in the past.
“KUKL is providing 12 crore liters of water currently. It is because of the rain. During the dry season, we can supply no more than 8 crore liters of water in the Valley,” Shakya said.
He added that, by the end of the rainy days, the water level might increase letting KUKL supply as much as 150 million liters per day.
“We hope that the water level will grow so that we can ease the problem faced by people,” Shakya said.
Rainwater harvesting, which helps in storing water during rainy days, has not been practiced effectively in Kathmandu, admitted Shakya. According to him, there is a need to build dams around water sources to effectively store and use the water.
Shakya also informed about ongoing project of tube-well in the valley which would add at least 2 crore liters of drinking water. “In the rainy season, tube-wells work well. We are installing 20 tube-wells at different places of the Valley, which will add minimum 2 crore liters of water,” he said.
KUKL is expected to provide drinking water to 3,000 additional taps every year as the houses in the Valley are ever growing. “Even though it´s already a big challenge to meet the demand of drinking water in the Valley, around 3000 people apply for drinking water supply every year," said Shakya.
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