Sunshine time for owners of water tankers in City

Sunshine time for owners of water tankers in City
S Lalitha, Mar 2, Bangalore:

Erratic power supply and acute water shortage in the City have turned out to be favourable for private water tanker suppliers. They have literally cashed in on the situation with prices for tankers even doubling during the last one month.


The hike effected in diesel price in the recent Union budget is bound to up the rates further.

While many grumble at the spiralling prices of water tankers, some lament that they do not get to see water all. Ramesh, a resident of Lingarajapuram points out that it was a week since he called up their regular water supplier. “Despite repeated reminders, we are yet to receive water at our doorstep,” he states.
Thammiah, a resident of Sir M Visvesvaraya Nagar states that “By creating this kind of an artificial scarcity, people would feel immensely relieved just to get some water finally,” he observes. They would be willing to accept any increase in rates for a tanker.
From a sum ranging between Rs 150 and Rs 175 for a water tanker during January, the minimum is now Rs 200 and even much higher from the 20 private agencies supplying M V Nagar, residents here point out.

Erratic power supply
The reason for the sudden hike was that erratic power supply affected pumping of water. This in turn affected the revenue of private operators as they were not able to supply the number of loads they used to do so earlier.
“They are compensating the loss by hiking the cost of water supplied to houses willing to pay,” they add.

A resident of H B R Layout, Imtiaz Ahmed said “I paid Rs 300 today to procure a water tractor of a capacity of 4,000 litres.”

When contacted for a water tanker, a private water supplier in HAL, Third Stage, said that the rate for a tanker of 6,000-litre capacity was Rs 700 on Monday.
“Even that, I cannot give you today for there is a long waiting-list for it,” he added.
When pointed out that the rate was exorbitant, he said that IT companies were more than willing to pay the sum without grudging.

“You need to realise that apart from increase in power tariff, diesel rates have also gone up. It is impossible for us to supply at the rates we used to as the owner at the water filling point has jacked up all the rates,” he elaborates.
When BWSSB’s complaint cell was contacted, the person taking calls said they had not received any complaints from public about water shortage. “All I can say is that the tankers we provide charge only Rs 250 and our rate has remained the same even last year,” he claimed.