New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS): In a major move, the Delhi government on Saturday decided to extend the scheme of giving free water of 20,000 litres per month to the residents of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area with retrospective effect.

"So far, people of entire Delhi, except those living in NDMC area, benefited from this scheme. Now we have decided to retrospectively implement the same in NDMC area," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said after a cabinet meeting here.

"The scheme would be implemented from the same date it was implemented in the rest of Delhi," he said.

"The old water bills of people living there will be refunded and Delhi government will pay subsidy amount to NDMC," Kejriwal said.

Immediately after coming to power, the Aam Aadmi Party had decided to give free water upto 20,000 litres per month to every household in Delhi as promised in its poll manifesto.

Kejriwal also told all the departments to submit a proposal before November 15 for giving permanent jobs to the contractual employees.