MCG Drive Targets Water Dues, Illegal Links

GURUGRAM: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram has launched a citywide drive to recover outstanding water dues and curb illegal connections, with two special teams checking billing records, meters and unauthorised taps, Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said as the campaign rolled out around 1 October.

Field teams have already disconnected several industrial and other connections in Sectors 18 and 33 where inspections found long-overdue bills, including dues in the range of about Rs 5 lakh, Rs 14 lakh and higher on individual connections cited in the corporation's early drive notes. Officials framed the cuts as enforcement against persistent defaulters, not a sudden tariff hike.

MCG is acting under the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, and the applicable water-supply bye-laws that let the corporation demand payment, disconnect supply for unpaid dues and book unauthorised links. Consumers were told to clear bills and apply to regularise illegal connections through the prescribed process on the MCG portal at https://www.mcg.gov.in/.

Special teams, sectors and how to regularise

The two special teams are cross-checking ledger arrears against physical meters and site taps. Where a connection exists without a live account, or where bypassing and meter tampering are found, staff can seal or remove the link and raise a recovery demand. Where the account is live but unpaid, disconnection follows after the notice path the Act requires.

Sectors 18 and 33 showed up early because industrial and mixed-use users there often carry larger monthly volumes, so unpaid stacks grow fast. Officials said the same template will move across other wards rather than stop at those two sectors. Residential societies with bulk meters were reminded that unpaid mother accounts can cut supply for an entire tower line.

Dahiya urged residents and commercial users to pay online or at authorised counters instead of waiting for a field visit. The Water Services section on https://www.mcg.gov.in/ lists connection, bill-pay and grievance options. District-level civic routing also sits on https://gurugram.gov.in/ for complaints that span more than one agency.

Illegal connections hurt paying consumers when pressure drops and when treatment plants run without matching revenue. The corporation's early October message is blunt: regularise or face disconnection, and do not assume a long unpaid industrial line will stay untouched because it sat unnoticed for months.

No citywide arrears total was locked into the first drive note beyond the sample Sector 18 and 33 disconnections. What is on record is the legal basis, the two-team structure, the commissioner's regularisation appeal, and concrete cuts already carried out where dues ran into lakhs. That is enough for bill-payers to treat the drive as live enforcement.

Anyone who disputes a disconnection can raise a grievance through the MCG water portal with account number, payment proof and photos of the meter. Until dues clear or a stay is recorded, field staff will keep the tap sealed under the Municipal Corporation Act route now in use.

Bulk users in industrial pockets should expect meter readers and disconnection crews to return if dues stay unpaid after the first cut. Reconnection fees and arrears both apply under the corporation's water rules; paying only a partial amount does not automatically restore supply without a clearance note from the water wing.

RWAs that pool society water bills were asked to put arrears on the agenda before towers go dry mid-month. A single defaulting commercial unit on a shared line can still trigger wider pressure drops when MCG seals the mother connection during the drive.