New Delhi: The Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) financial losses have jumped from Rs 344.05 crore in the 2019-20 fiscal to Rs 1,196.22 crore in 2021-22, while the board has a debt of more than Rs 73,000 crore, officials said.
The DJB is estimated to incur a loss of Rs 854.86 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal, they added. The information was shared by the DJB with the Delhi Assembly on Monday.
The DJB had incurred a loss of Rs 344.05 crore in 2019-20, which rose to Rs 770.87 crore in the next fiscal and then to Rs 1,196.22 crore in the 2021-22 fiscal.
The debt of DJB stands at Rs 73,196.55 crore, which includes an interest of Rs 35,829.96 crore and principal amount of Rs 37,366.59 crore.
The number of consumers have risen from 18,94,096 (18.94 lakh) in 2014-15 to 27,64,089 (27.64 lakh) in the 2022-23 financial year.
The DJB earned revenues of Rs 1,668.26 crore, Rs 1,764.57 crore, Rs 1,448.10 crore and Rs 1,827.42 crore in the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years, respectively, according to the data.
The DJB said that the number of consumers has risen through the years. The Delhi government provides 20,000 litres of free water to each household in the city.
This cost is borne by the government, the officials said, adding that the decrease in revenue from time to time is due to the lack of enforcement, faulty meters and illegal connections.
The Delhi government informed the Assembly that the DJB’s accounts have been audited till March 31, 2018 while the performance audit till March 31, 2022 has been completed. The Principal Accountant General (Audit) wing of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) carries out the audit of DJB’s accounts.
The annual accounts of 2018-19 and 2019-20 have been prepared that will be sent to the CAG after approval from board by the urban development department.
The Delhi BJP has many a times alleged that the accounts of the DJB have not been prepared since 2016-17 nor has any audit been done since then.
Earlier this month, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed for a CAG audit of the DJB accounts of the last 15 years.
Amid a tussle over release of funds, the Delhi government’s finance department had released Rs 535 crore to the DJB for nearly 70 projects of the agency on December 11.
Delhi Water Minister Atishi had last month claimed that the national capital was staring at a “man-made water crisis” due to the stoppage of funds to the DJB by the finance department and demanded Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena’s immediate intervention.
(Published 19 December 2023, 12:26 IST)