The Civil Guard union AUGC has publicly denounced that the agents of the Tías barracks have been "scammed" by the Ministry of the Interior itself in the collection of the water fee. In a statement, the union, which represents 1,400 agents in the Canary Islands, has pointed out that the Ministry "forgot to say that the work was inaugurated without a water supply" and that "to save a few euros, a connection would be made with the existing cistern, without placing a new meter."
According to the union, this has meant that the water consumed in these dependencies "has to be paid in equal parts by the Civil Guard officers assigned to the old dependencies that still remain and which are 11 homes in total." "These colleagues religiously pay their drinking water bill, since they do have meters installed by the supply company Inalsa," the union explained.
In this sense, AUGC has pointed out that in December 2011 a general reading of the meter was carried out, as well as readings of the meters of the eleven homes. "The company Inalsa informed the Civil Guard that during the months of October and November there was an excessive consumption of water, which reached almost 3,000 cubic meters. The company passed on to each home an extra charge of more than 400 euros by adding 195 cubic meters of unconsumed water to each meter," the union denounced.
From the AUGC they have assured that they do not know the reason why the construction company did not place a water meter in these facilities. "We do not know if it was because it was not included in the initial project or it was due to cost savings by the General Directorate of the Civil Guard," the union pointed out, which has made it clear that if it were not for a breakdown in the cistern of this barracks, "the agents would be paying for the water of official dependencies for life."
The union has expressed confidence that the new Director General of the Civil Guard "will open an investigation into all the contracted works" in the Las Palmas Command in the last four years, in case there is "any other irregularity." In addition, it has recalled that before the "big fanfare" inauguration of the barracks, which took place in 2009 and was attended by former minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, it already denounced that there was a lack of furniture and lockers for the changing rooms and that the construction of this facility was "terrible."
