“These decisions come as a direct response to the persistent, real-life problems that citizens have been dealing with for years—ranging from faulty water bills and non-functional meters to lack of proper sewer systems in several colonies,” said the official.Geotagging of consumer properties and assigning a Unique Customer Premise Identification number will be among the key highlights with the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) planning an overhaul of the system for generating water bills amid complaints from consumers over inaccurate or missing bills, said officials. The DJB is also planning to hold a door-to-door drive and update the database of the 35 lakh water consumers in the Capital.The cost of overhaul is pegged at Rs 60 crore, Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said on Thursday, adding that this effort is aimed at eliminating discrepancies that have eroded public trust over time. “People of Delhi want to pay their water bills and fulfill their responsibility. The problem arises when someone suddenly receives an inflated bill, when a meter is not functioning, or when bills don’t reach on time. These are not small issues… they affect daily life. Our effort is to fix these gaps at the ground level and build a system that is accurate, transparent, and trustworthy.”Officials said under this initiative, DJB will also introduce installation of technology-enabled smart meter readings with features such as photo capture and GPS tagging. A proof of bill delivery (PoD) will have to be submitted in the database. At present, consumer records are maintained using installed meters. “The overhaul is expected to help weed out duplicate and incorrect entries,” said an official.“Within six months, every registered consumer is expected to have a verified digital record, reducing disputes and improving service delivery,” Singh said.In Delhi, currently there are around 29 lakh registered consumers even as the number of actual users is estimated to be much higher. Of the 29 lakh consumers, only about 40% of users are receiving accurate and timely bills, said officials.Legacy processes, manual interventions and fragmented field operations have led to persistent issues in billing accuracy, consumer data quality, service transparency and overall revenue realisation. In an effort to address these challenges, the Delhi government has also come up with the online KYC (Know Your Customer) drive to address this issue and for end-to-end revenue support functions.The move comes as the utility continues to report nearly 50% non-revenue water (NRW), with losses attributed to leakages, theft and unbilled consumption. Officials said that formalising consumer records and strengthening billing systems could play a key role in reducing losses.Story continues below this adDJB has also approved several other key projects. With an aim to provide a major relief for thousands of families, the Board has approved large-scale House Service Sewer Connections (HSSCs) in Kirari and surrounding areas. “The project will benefit Pratap Vihar Catchment, which includes 4.30 lakh residents (72 colonies), Prem Nagar Catchment with 1.45 lakh residents (30 colonies) and Bhagya Vihar Catchment: 1.5 lakh residents (11 colonies + 3 villages),” said an official.For many residents, this marks the end of years of dependence on unsafe and unhygienic arrangements, paving the way for cleaner neighborhoods and healthier living conditions, said the Minister.Further, to clean Yamuna, the DJB has also approved a Rs. 71.12-crore project for in-situ treatment of wastewater in the Delhi Gate drain and revival of the pondage area upstream of the Wazirabad barrage to improve water quality and storage. These measures aim to ensure that untreated sewage is stopped before entering the Yamuna, addressing pollution at its origin, said officials.“These decisions come as a direct response to the persistent, real-life problems that citizens have been dealing with for years—ranging from faulty water bills and non-functional meters to lack of proper sewer systems in several colonies,” said the official.