THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The amnesty scheme implemented by the Water Authority with the aim of collecting water bill dues of Rs 740 crore by December has received a cold response even from the government departments. So far only Rs 17.05 crore have been received. It is doubtful whether at least Rs 50 crore will be received by December 31.

Rs 1878 crore is the due till July. Out of this, the dues of government, public sector and local bodies alone are Rs 1287 crore. 29,114 (29.68%) of the 98,083 applications were settled in the Adalat held as part of dues collection in 29 divisions from July to September (three months). Rs 173.69 crore was written off. Rs 38.47 crore was sanctioned to be paid in installments. Following this, Rs 740 crore was targeted to be collected by December.

In the Kasaragod division, which included less than 25 per cent due in the amnesty, it was decided to withhold one day salary of officials from clerk to executive engineer as there was no significant progress. Here, out of Rs 1.79 crore arrears, Rs 46 lakh have been included in the scheme. Only Rs 3.41 lakh have been disbursed so far.

If the dues are not collected, then it would lead Water authority to huge crisis.

Districts that collected more money (in crores)

Ernakulam - 4.03

Pathanamthitta: 2.72

Thiruvananthapuram - 2.52

Kollam - 2.04