Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has taken a big relief step for the people of Delhi. He has started the Late Payment Surcharge Waiver Scheme on water bills, under which 100% waiver of late payment surcharge will be given if the bill is deposited by 31st December. The Chief Minister also said that now illegal domestic connections can be legalized for just Rs 1,000. He clarified that any connection which remains illegal will be disconnected.Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has expressed concern over illegal water connections in the capital. He said that despite Delhi’s population of 2.5 crore, there are only 29 lakh connections, while thousands of connections are illegal.‘Late Payment Surcharge Waiver Scheme’ will provide relief to lakhs of consumers.100% discount will be given on payment till January 31, 2026 and 70% discount on payment from February 1 to March 31. pic.twitter.com/G07XximVQU— CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) October 14, 2025The Chief Minister has announced huge discount on regularizing the connection:Domestic Connection: Earlier it used to cost Rs 25,000 to regularize an illegal connection, now it can be regularized for only Rs 1,000.Non-domestic connection: Earlier the penalty was Rs 61,000, now it can be regularized for only Rs 5,000.Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has warned that whoever does not regularize illegal water connections will be disconnected. He blamed the previous governments, saying that they caused losses to the Delhi Jal Board as they did not update the software, due to which new connections could not be released.Gupta said that at present the Water Department has updated the software, so that now it will work better. He also said that previous governments had kept all the financial powers of the Jal Board with themselves, thereby limiting the board’s capacity.Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said half the capital’s population still depends on unpiped connections or illegal connections. He said that the BJP government provided financial strength to the Delhi Jal Board, which increased the pace of work and made improvements possible.Further, the Chief Minister said that the work has been equally distributed among the staff and a water department office will be set up on every two assembly constituencies, so that the service can be provided in a better and more accessible manner.Pravesh Verma told why the bill is higherDelhi Government Minister Pravesh Verma had clarified in July 2025 that the main reason for high water bills of most people in the capital is late fees, which keeps increasing at the rate of 5% per month. Due to this, the bills of many consumers reach lakhs of rupees. Pravesh Verma said, “This is the first and last scheme in which the penalty on water bills will be waived. Many people of Delhi have received such bills which have increased not because of water usage but because of interest and late fees.” He also said that this amnesty scheme will cause a revenue loss of thousands of crores of rupees to the government, but its objective is to provide relief to the consumers and reduce the economic burden.100% discount will be available till 31st JanuaryDelhi government has announced new waiver conditions giving further clarity to the water bill waiver scheme:100% waiver: Those who deposit their outstanding bills by January 31, 2026, will get 100% waiver of penalty (late fee).70% discount: Those who pay the bill by March 31, 2026, will get a discount of up to 70%.The government estimates that about 29 lakh families will benefit from this scheme. At present the total amount of outstanding water bills in Delhi is approximately Rs 87,589 crore, of which Rs 80,463 crore is only in the form of late fees.To make this scheme effective, awareness camps will be organized by Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The team in these camps will help people so that they can pay their bills on time and avail the amnesty.Follow the LALLURAM.COM MP channel on WhatsAppClick to read big news of India and abroadClick here to read Read.com news in EnglishClick here to read sports newsClick to read big entertainment news