Naval Base makes Rs 2.40 crore avoidable payment

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Delay in replacing faulty water meters led to the Naval Base, Kochi, making an ‘avoidable payment’ of Rs 2.40 crore to the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) as penalty surcharge on water bills, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) has found. The Naval Base was slapped with the penalty surcharge during 2008-09, says the report on ‘Defence Services - Navy and Air Force.’ Two water meters had gone faulty in July 2008, and, in August 2008, KWA warned the Navy that surcharge would be levied unless they were replaced within 30 days. Surcharge to the extent of 25 per cent would be collected during the first month of delay, 50 percent during the subsequent two months and 100 percent after that.Naval Base’s water requirements are met by the Garrison Engineer (GE) Electrical and Mechanical (E/M), Kochi, through KWA supply. Military Engineer Services (MES) accepts the supply in bulk from the main pump house, Kataribagh, which has three water meters. ‘’As the meters were not replaced, KWA started levying penalty surcharge from September 2008 onwards resulting in an avoidable payment of Rs 2.40 crore,’’ the CAG report says. The meters were replaced in April, 2009, but KWA refused to acknowledge the replacement saying the meters lacked certification.It was only in July 2009 - a year after the meters were damaged - that the KWA approved the replacement. Levying of surcharge stopped in August that year. The Integral HQ Ministry of Defence (Navy) accepted the levy in July 2010, but pointed out that by coincidence during the same period, the water tariff had gone up substantially and hence the levy of surcharge ‘’could not be detected.’’ Subsequently, however, KWA agreed to set off the surcharge collected by it against 50 per cent of the future water bills of the Naval Base, says the CAG report. The set off of surcharge started from the bills for the month of October 2010.