"We are not against normal hike in bills and taxes. But we are against increasing the burden of the people due to huge allocation of fund from the state plan fund for the Congress' own New Land Use Policy," MNF Youth president P C Laltlansanga said as he torched the government document in front of MNF headquarters Hnam Run here today. The Youth president alleged that due to huge allocation for the NLUP, only 16.80 percent of the state budget is left for the people. "Now, the poor people who the Congress government called as its 'VIPs' pay water bills higher than their house rents," he alleged. Laltlansanga pointed out that the Congress government, after much opposition from various organisations, had rolled back its decision to hike water tariff in February, with the chief minister apologising that the hike was caused by technical failures, and it was unintentional.
"That was before the village council/local council elections. Now, with the elections over, the Congress government has revived the decision to increase water bills which it had already termed as technical failures. We demand Lal Thanhawla to stand by his words before the elections," Laltlansanga said. The Congress should first fulfill its duties in supplying water to the consumers as per the Mizoram Water Supplies (Control) Amendment Rules, 2011', which states that the (PHE) department should give water to the consumers at least once a week, which is at present situation a far cry for Aizawl residents. The Act further demands that the department should refund 50 percent of water bills to the consumer if it fails to supply 2500 litres of water a month to the consumer.
"We have burnt a copy of this Act as it does not have any meaning to the consumers," Laltlansanga said. Under the new tariff, a consumer who used to pay Rs 110 has to pay Rs 250 per month. Those who used to pay Rs 350 are now charged Rs 750 to Rs 1,000 per month, without any improvement in water supply.
"The hikes in water tariff are exorbitant and unjustifiable," the Youth president said. The MNF Youth demanded chief minister Lal Thanhawla to implement his flagship NLUP project from the Prime Minister special package as he had promised before the elections.