A number of public and private sector enterprises have put the state in a legal fix by refusing to cough up water tariffs that have been imposed by the government. At a review meet held in the state capital yesterday, officials found out that both the Hatia and Chakradharpur divisions of South Eastern Railway had not paid a single paisa as tariff, though both had been regularly drawing water from the Subernarekha river. According to estimates, the outstanding arrears of Hatia division as on January 31 was close to Rs 136.18 lakh, while that of the Charadharpur division stood at Rs 238.50 lakh. “The Hatia divisional railway manager had agreed to work the modalities for payment,” said superintending engineer of water resources department D.K. Singh. He added that the Chakradharpur railway manager had so far remained evasive on the issue. The official said SAIL had been paying water charges at the old rate and challenged the state’s revised tariff in court. Tata Steel too had knocked on the doors of Jharkhand High Court against the revised rate. Officials said that the revised tariff, which came into effect on April 1, 2011, required the industries to pay Rs 9.10 per thousand gallon if water was drawn from a river; Rs 26.40 for water drawn from reservoirs and 65.50 on drawing water from canals. But the business houses were paying Rs 4.40 per thousand gallon of water, as per the old tariff. Singh, however, said that senior Tata Steel executives were willing to work out an amicable solution. The official added that the company wanted charges to be levied on the basis of their actual consumption only. “We will sign a draft agreement with Tata soon,” he said. The other big players who owe substantial amounts to the government include Bihar Sponge Limited, Usha Martin, Hindustan Copper Limited, Adhunik Alloys and Copper Limited, Adhunik Power ND Natural Resources Limited, Kohinoor Steel Private Limited, TVNL, Hindalco, ACC and Tata Steel (mines division). Email This Page