DW BUREAU / Chandigarh The General House of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) has approved one time settlement for water bill defaulters in the meeting held on August 31. If the defaulting amount is deposited in one instalment then a 10 percent rebate on the total amount may be allowed. In case of two instalments rebate of 7 per cent and in case of three instalments rebate of 5 percent of the total amount may be allowed. No one time settlements of the defaulting amount has been in MC in the past. The matter was brought out in the Enhancement of Revenue sources and curtailment of expenditure committee meeting held on August 18 that approximately amounted to Rs 41.60 crore is pending as arrears of water supply bills upto June 30. The amount includes defaulter consumers of domestic, Industrial, Commercial and Government Departments. No one time settlement of the defaulting amount has been done in Municipal Corporation Chandigarh in the past and also no such provision exists in the Chandigarh Water Supply Bye Laws. Mahesh Inder Singh Sidhu, BJP councillor said that the introduction of one time settlement for the defaulters for the first time will help the MC to generate more revenue. In case of non payment of any bills by due date by the consumers, surcharge @10 percent is charged and included with the next bill. The proposal was one of the many given by the Revenue Generation committee to enhance revenue generation of the MC.The MC house meeting was held today under chairmanship of Mayor Raj Bala Malik through video conferencing. Facing the shortage of the fund the Chandigarh MC has also approved the impose 20 percent cut on petrol and diesel consumption for the vehicles used by the MCC Officials. As per the approved proposal the petrol limit for the following officers will be as under: The Mayor 300 litre per month The Commissioner 250 litre per month, the Additional/Joint Commissioners 225 litre per month, the Chief Engineer 250 litre per month and other categories are 200 litres per month. Besides, the MC House deferred the agenda for utilisation of Mahila Bhawan Sector 38 to rent out Exhibition halls, rooms, canteen etc. which was considered as one of the options proposed by the revenue generation committee for improving the financial condition of the MC. Moreover, the MC also gave a nod to displaying advertisements on toilet blocks at gardens/green belts. This will enhance the possibilities of generating revenue for the MC. (editor@dailyworld.in)