Citizen platforms criticise Dhaka WASA decision to hike water tariff

Rights groups, economists, and political parties have strongly criticised the decision of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority to increase the tariff and asked the authority to review its decision.

To them, the authority's decision of increasing water prices is an inhumane move; Dhaka WASA has no moral right to do so since it fails to provide the citizens with desired services due to its corruption.

Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said Dhaka WASA could not do it on moral grounds though they had the legal authority.

"They cannot decide to hike the prices morally since they don't perform their other duties accordingly; the water they (WASA) provide is unusable, polluted, and undrinkable," said Mr Rahman, who headed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The ministry concerned must identify the corruption in the WASA and take necessary actions in this regard, said the former ACC boss, adding that such action would also help the authority provide water to citizens at a lower cost compared to the existing prices.

"It's an extremely unscrupulous decision of increasing the prices while the majority of the people are going through a financial crisis due to the pandemic," he said.

Referring to the recent economic data, he said currently the number of country's poor had doubled, implying the weakening purchasing capacity of the people.

Terming the move of water price hike a cruel decision at this crucial time, the CAB president said, "It is like rubbing salt into the wound."

Dhaka WASA on Monday decided to increase the water prices during its 279th board meeting. The decision will be effective from July 1.

As per the decision, both the residential and commercial customers will have to pay a five percent additional charge per unit of water supplied to them.

This is the 14th incidence of tariff hike by the WASA in the last 13 years.

As per the new decision, residential consumers will have to pay Tk 15.18 for per thousand-litre water supplied instead of the existing Tk 14.46 and commercial subscribers will require paying Tk 42 in lieu of Tk 40 at present.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front (NDF) on Wednesday also demanded that the government withdraw the decision.

Condemning the move, the NDF through a statement said Dhaka WASA did not consider public interests and the new price chart would help only the unscrupulous officials of the organisation plunder the public money.

Due to coronavirus-induced economic fallout, about 25 million people have been jobless and the income of 42 percent workers declined significantly compared with pre-pandemic times, they said.

They said that the increased water prices would only aggravate the sufferings of the consumers further.

Earlier in the last week of March this year, Dhaka WASA attempted to raise the tariff, but it backtracked on the decision following public criticism.