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NAGPUR: In a bizarre revelation, it’s learnt that water meters installed by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation ( NMC ) in 16,000 houses across the city have gone missing. According to an water works department official, they have been “stolen”. However, it is not known if any police complaint has been filed by any authority.

The department has proposed to install new water meters at all houses free of cost. The Nagpur Environmental Services Limited ( NESL ), the civic body’s special purpose vehicle for water works, will decide on how to replace them in a meeting on Tuesday.

The NESL board of directors will also discuss other issues related to water supply.

Previously, the NMC used to charge consumers for meters. But after the central government sanctioned funds for installation of new water meters, the NMC through its private operator Orange City Water Private Limited (OCW) is installing new ones each costing Rs1,660 free of cost.

As per NESL’s data, the OCW has installed new meters in around 1.60 lakh houses as against the target of 3.09 lakh in the last six years.

An NMC official told TOI that more than 16,000 meters could be missing. “Most of the meters have been stolen from North Nagpur . Consumers are supposed to take care of the meters. They are not even willing to pay for new ones. The NMC is issuing average water bills such houses,” he said.

According to an OCW spokesperson, “Every meter has a unique number and is saved in our SAP billing system. If it is stolen and fixed elsewhere, it can easily be tracked down. Meters are fixed 30cm (1 feet) inside the consumers’ premises. A consumer is responsible to protect the meter from theft, damage etc”

In August 2014, there were similar complaints from Laxmi Nagar. Neither the NMC nor the OCW took efforts to identify persons stealing water meters and also to prevent the thefts.

