Accusing the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government of “mischief” and “misleading the public with false promises” on inflated water bills, Delhi’s water minister Parvesh Verma on Wednesday told the assembly that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will soon provide relief to consumers and ensure that no connection is cut until the problem is resolved.
“A solution will be found on the issue of late payment charge, penalty and interest on interest. Till this problem is resolved, no water connection will be cut,” he told the House, clarifying that he was not talking about large commercial connections.
The minister also said the inflated bills will be rectified and if bills are found to be completely wrong, the accrued arrears will be forgiven.
Reacting to the minister’s statement, the AAP said the BJP, driven by its dirty politics, was pressuring departments to generate inflated bills and defame the AAP.
“Instead of hurling abuses at AAP, the BJP should focus on fulfilling the promises it made to Delhi people before the elections. Every single promise has turned out to be a hollow jumla (trick),” said the party spokesperson.
The issue came to fore after several BJP MLAs flagged that their constituents had received exorbitant bills — some of which totalled in lakhs.
Addressing the House, Verma accused the previous AAP government of committing multiple “sins” over the past decade, alleging that even small properties were being billed in lakhs. “This was the mischief by the previous government which sent fake water bills worth lakhs to people to intimidate them. The previous government said if they came to power, they will waive everyone’s water bills and also warned that under the BJP government, they would have to pay hefty bills,” he said.
Verma said he has held discussions with chief minister Rekha Gupta and soon plans will be drawn up to provide the public relief.
The massive backlog of unpaid water bills has been a contentious issue in the national capital since the past two years, particularly in the run-up to the assembly elections last month. In June 2023, the AAP government, led by Arvind Kejriwal, announced a “one-time settlement scheme” aimed at benefiting approximately 1.17 million water consumers with pending arrears. Kejriwal had stated that out of Delhi’s 2.76 million domestic water consumers, 1.17 million had outstanding bills totaling ₹5,737 crore.
However, the settlement scheme was never implemented owing to a standoff between the government and the bureaucracy. While campaigning for 2025 Delhi elections, AAP once again promised to waive inflated bills if voted back into power.
Verma on Wednesday said his government will also take strict action against the fraud perpetrated by meter readers. “Several meter readers are giving rise to inflated bills by inputting wrong readings. We appeal to the public to not “settle” the matter with meter readers– instead they should file a complaint. Your connection will not be cut and this corruption will be weeded out,” Verma said.
The minister said the government is also working on finding a solution to the problem of fake billing and faulty meters. “There are complaints of meters running even when taps were dry. All faulty meters will be replaced to stop bogus billing,” he said.
