With an eye on Assembly elections, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced a scheme to waive arrears on water bills.

The scheme, aimed at bringing a major section of Delhi's population into the mainstream, will cover domestic as well as commercial connections.

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, "Today, we are announcing a scheme to waive water bill arrears to clean up Delhi Jal Board's books. Some of these arrears were due to consumers but some were also due to incorrect billing."

He noted, "This is an open invitation to the people of Delhi to join the mainstream and install water meters. Only those consumers who have installed functional meters before November 30 will get the benefit of this scheme

The chief minister said that the measure will apply to all house-tax categories -- A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H.

"For E, F, G and H categories, the principal amount of arrears and late payment surcharge (LPS) will be written off. LPS will be waived for A, B, C and D categories as well," he said.

Under the scheme, Kejriwal said 25% of the principal amount in the water bill dues for A and B category households will be set aside.

"In addition, 50% of the principal amount for C category households and 75% for the D category will also be written off," he said.

For commercial connections, the chief minister said on payment of arrears till March 31, the entire LPS will be set aside.

The Delhi Jal Board expects to recover Rs 600-crore revenue through the scheme, he added.

Assembly polls in Delhi are due in February next year.

In his opening remarks, he stressed that the Delhi government has worked towards drastically improving the water infrastructure in the metropolis over the last five years with 93% of the colonies now having piped supply.

"In the next five years, the people of Delhi will get clean water round-the-clock. To achieve the target, we have started several initiatives to improve water productivity in the city," Kejriwal said.

Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also announced that residents of Delhi would not have to pay any bills for the consumption of electricity of up to 200 units.

Making the announcement in the national capital, the Chief Minister had said, "People consuming till 200 units of electricity won't have to pay the electricity bills. Their bills will be waived from August 1." However, he added that if a consumer uses 201 units, "he will have to pay the full charge", however, a 50% subsidy would be provided for the consumption of up to 201 to 400 units of electricity.

The Chief Minister had declared that if the rich can get away with availing free electricity, so can the common man, staying true to the Aam Aadmi Party's motto of working for the welfare of the common man. Towards this aim, he had also declared free WiFi for the residents of Delhi. The construction of 11,000 WiFi hotspots around the city to provide around 15GB of free internet data to every user would be started 'very soon', he had said.

(With agency inputs)