Mayor Asok Bhattacharya on Friday announced waiver of water charges for families below poverty line and said there was no need to get sanction from the Siliguri Municipal Corporation in future for the plans of small houses on plots measuring two cottahs or less.

The sops were announced ahead of polls to the SMC.

It was Bhattacharya who as state urban development and municipal affairs minister in 2002 had announced water tariffs ranging from Rs 30 to Rs 75 per month to recover operation and maintenance costs.

“We have decided to waive water charges collected from BPL category residents. It has also been decided that from now on, anybody building a house that is maximum two stories on a plot that measures two cottahs or less will not have to get the plan approved by the civic body,” said Bhattacharya.

There are around 40,000 drinking water connections in the SMC area.