Goa CM Manohar Parrikar
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday told the Legislative Assembly that tariff on drinking water in the state was “subsidised” and people should be ready to “pay more for it” in the future.
He also informed the House that the state government had appointed a consultant to map the existing water supply and its report would be considered while laying new pipelines. He said that the government was in the process of augmenting water supply by 152 million litres per day (MLD) in the state.
“The water provided to consumers is at a much subsidised rate. We get only Rs 150 crore from consumers annually while the actual expenditure is Rs 800-900 crore,” he informed the House. “But in the future, we should be ready to pay more for it after providing some water, up to certain units, at a cheaper rate,” the CM said.
He was responding to a question on water supply tabled by Congress legislator Philip Neri Rodrigues during the monsoon session of the Assembly. He ruled out that there was shortage of water in Goa and added that it was people living at the “tail end” (of the supply) or those located at elevated areas who were facing this problem.
