Small industries have raised concerns over high levy of water and underground drainage (UGD) charges by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).

Exorbitant, unjust

“The small industries are suffering from undue charges by the BWSSB which is exorbitant at ₹300 a square metre calculated on built-up area,” said VK Dikshit, President, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (Kassia).

“This works out to huge sums of money which small industries cannot afford to pay. They use water only for drinking and sanitation purpose and charging them on pro-rata basis applying commercial rates is quite unjust,” he added.

Urging the State government to intervene, Kassia said, water and UGD services supplied to industry by the BWSSB have caused severe hardship on account of the pricing of the service.

“BWSSB, which served the needs of the SMEs to our satisfaction till 2008, has suddenly turned uncooperative. It is pertinent to mention hear that before the notification of 2008 hiking the rates for the new connections, the tentative rate for three-fourth pipe inches water supply in Bengaluru was around ₹18,500 which included metering, inspection and connection charges,” Kassia added.

Separate classification

Dikshit said “This must be done away with classifying MSMEs under a separate category. The rates in neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana are much lower.”

Karnataka which is in third position has slipped to ninth position. “With inadequate infrastructure, the State may further slide if things do not improve. The government must not forget that there are 6 lakh small and micro industries in Karnataka that support about 1.2 crore people, directly and indirectly, and contribute 40 per cent of the State’s tax revenue. If they are badly hurt it will only hurt the interest of the State,” explained Dikshit.

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