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239 industrial units in Gujarat, with pending bills that add up to ₹8,138 cr, have been seemingly let off with just a slap on the wrist, alleged a minister during the monsoon session of the assembly.

In response to a question asked, the minister of water resources, Kunvarji Bavaliya, said that notices have been issued from time to time and court appeals have been filed against the industrial units, but the money has still not been recovered.

In some cases, there have been proceedings against some industries to introduce encumbrances (imposing a burden on its transferability) on property.

Bills from the last two and three years remain unpaid, too

The minister informed that as of last year, ₹8138.89 crore are due to be collected from 239 industrial units. On top of that, ₹7,354.49 crore dues for the last two years and ₹7,098.18 crore dues for the last three years are outstanding.

The outstanding amount includes water tax at a fixed rate, user rate, penalty and interest amount.

The industries whose water tax is due are from Bharuch, Vadodara, Chotaudepur, Narmada, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Tapi, Navsari, Surat, Ahmedabad, Gir Somnath, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Kheda, Anand, Bhavnagar, Botad, Amreli, Aravalli, Sabarkantha, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Morbi, Kutch, Patan, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Banaskantha, Mahisagar and Valsad. 

These industries are supplied with water from various rivers, canals, and government water farms.

While the industries have uncleared dues, Bavaliya reportedly stated that 57 FIRs were filed in the last year against water theft in Gujarat. Moreover, the state was reportedly thinking about providing relief to the industries earlier this year, in terms of water charges levied from them.

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