The Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) scheme to waive additional late payment charges on pending domestic water bills, launched last October, has not had the desired impact, senior officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday, citing a payment of just $200 million. $586 Crores of outstanding principal dues $5,057 crore — at a clearance rate of 11.5% — as on May 20.
According to water utility data, less than 30% of consumers with pending bills, i.e. 439,000 out of approximately 1.47 million consumers, have applied for the program since its launch.
Even extending the deadline from March 31 to August 15 and including commercial consumers under the scheme since February failed to improve the clearance rate, with 8,481 commercial consumers benefiting from the scheme.
“The response remains lukewarm with 400-500 consumers applying for the scheme on a daily basis,” said an official familiar with the matter, who did not wish to be named. “In the first 20 days of May, 9,731 consumers have availed the scheme. The LPSC scheme was expected to end on March 31. From April 1 to May 19, around 25,600 domestic consumers applied for the exemption. We hope the number will rise in the last month, but Frequent pardons and extensions also discourage people from paying bills.
Residents say the main problem remains the lack of resolution over the disputed bills, as well as the lack of camps or door-to-door campaigns to correct them.
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Ashok Bhasin, president of North Delhi Residents Welfare Federation, said the original amount of the bill needs to be corrected based on the actual average consumption over the last two-three months. “This principle of average consumption has been followed in the past. The DJB should also set up camps at the colony level to facilitate redressal of grievances.”
Fix under invoices
A DJB official said that waiving the principal amount is a political decision that can only be taken by the government, but a comprehensive overhaul of bills will be undertaken in the coming months.
When the one-time waiver program was launched on October 14, 2025, the total water bills owed for all categories were $Rs 87,589 crore. Of this, it was the main amount $7,125 crore, with LPSC accounting $Rs 80,464 crore. Represents the local class $16,068 Crores of Total — $5,057 Crores of capital and $11,011 crore from LPSC.
The Delhi Jal Board, which supplies water to about 2.9 million consumers across the national capital, has faced persistent complaints from residents over billing irregularities. Over the past twelve years, it has introduced at least five amnesty programs that offer varying levels of forgiveness on late payment fees and, in some cases, on underlying receivables (25% to 100%).
The relief plan is unlikely to be extended beyond August, as repeated extensions discourage ordinary taxpayers, officials said.
“We will soon launch a door-to-door KYC programme, which is likely to attract a large number of users in regular communications,” the official said.
Since last year, the BJP-led government has initiated steps to reform the CPM, including modernizing digital infrastructure, billing systems, e-KYC for consumers, as well as improving recruitment.
