Sylhet City Corporation reduces water bill, finally
The decision was made at an SCC meeting on Wednesday, after a series of protests for over 5 months
The Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) has finally decided to reduce the water bills of protesting city dwellers.
The decision was made at the SCC's monthly meeting on Wednesday, said SCC Mayor Ariful Chowdhury in a press conference at Nagar Bhaban of Sylhet city on Thursday evening.
The SCC had earlier doubled the water bill in July last year, triggering the dissatisfaction and anger of city dwellers.
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Since then, residents in different areas of the city have been staging demonstrations almost every day protesting the hike and demanding a repeal of the extended bill.
Various political parties, including the Awami League and BNP, also issued statements demanding the withdrawal of the increased water bill. Finally on Wednesday, the SCC backtracked from its earlier decision and reduced the water bill.
At the press briefing, the city mayor said, "The water bill has been fixed again considering the demands and to the benefit of citizens."
He said those with illegal water connections will be allowed to get the necessary approvals until 30 January. After that, the city corporation will conduct drives to sever all illegal water connections.
The SCC will install digital meters for water bills in the future, the mayor informed the media.
Tawfiq Box Lipon, panel mayor of the SCC, said those who have paid the increased bills in the last few months will have their payments adjusted later.
Against a daily demand of eight crore litres of water, the city corporation supplies 5.5 crore litres a day. The SCC spends an average of Tk1.08 crore per month on water purification and supply, collecting only TK48-49 lakh from customers each month.
