India, July 30 -- In a major push to plug revenue leakages and expand its billing network, Water Minister Parvesh Verma on Wednesday announced a city-wide e-KYC drive to verify nearly 30 lakh water consumers, saying the exercise is aimed at bringing non-billed and irregular connections into the Delhi Jal Board's (DJB) system. The move comes as the government estimates that nearly half of the water supplied in the capital is lost as non-revenue water (NRW), largely due to non-billed, unauthorised connections. Addressing a press conference, Water Minister Parvesh Verma said the DJB currently has around 30 lakh registered consumers, while Delhi has more than 60 lakh electricity consumers, pointing to a significant gap that suggests a large number of households receive water without being billed.
"The mismatch between electricity and water consumers clearly shows that many households are outside the billing network. Our objective is to identify every genuine consumer, ensure proper billing and reduce revenue losses," Verma said. The minister said the six-month e-KYC campaign has been entrusted to three agencies, which will conduct consumer verification across the city. Besides carrying out e-KYC, the agencies will also be responsible for meter reading, bill generation and bill distribution for all registered consumers. According to the plan, the agencies have been given a target of completing e-KYC for all 30 lakh consumers within six months while ensuring 99 percent bill generation and 100 percent proof of bill delivery. Their performance will be linked to service benchmarks, with penalty provisions for failure to achieve the prescribed targets.
Verma said residents have frequently complained about not receiving water bills on time, adding that billing and consumer management had remained neglected for years. He said, "the e-KYC exercise would help create an accurate consumer database, improve accountability and strengthen DJB's financial position by reducing non-revenue water losses, currently estimated at around 50 per cent." To strengthen administrative capacity, the government also approved the engagement of 700 contractual staff for two years, including 100 Assistant Section Officers, 200 Senior Assistants and 400 Junior Assistants, from non-recommended candidates of the SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) and Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL) examinations. The government launched the Young Aqua Leaders Internship Programme with 40 positions for students and graduates. It also expanded Wazirabad pond's storage from one day to nearly three days to strengthen Delhi's emergency water reserves, improve resilience during shortages and enhance long-term water security.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.