The Indian Supreme Court yesterday ordered the government to implement an ambitious project to link the major rivers of the region in a “time-bound manner”.

The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to implement the ambitious interlinking of rivers project in a time-bound manner and appointed a high-powered committee for its planning and implementati

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to implement the ambitious interlinking of rivers project in a time-bound manner and appointed a high-powered committee for its planning and implementation.

Observing that the project has already been delayed resulting in an increase in its cost, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said the Centre and the concerned State governments should participate for its “effective” implementation “in a time-bound manner”.

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is burning the midnight oil for speedy implementation of the river regulation zone (RRZ).

Environment minister Jayanti Natarajan admitted that the rules of the RRZ are in the process of being framed. She expects that once this notification is passed, a major hurdle to end the operations of land mafia grabbing thousand of acres of land along the Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti, Krishna , Cauvery and Godavari rivers (to name a few) will be halted.

Last year, an inspector was assaulted for not supplying water

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) seems to have learnt its lessons from the bitter experiences last summer. It has appointed special officers, mainly assistant executive engineers and assistant engineers, in each division to streamline the water distribution system.

The City is set to face another thirsty summer this year with 15 per cent of the work on the much-awaited Cauvery IV Stage II Phase yet to be completed.

The project, launched in November 2009, was expected to be completed by February 28, 2012. The Rs 1,766-crore project taken up by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board will supply an additional 500 million litres per day to the City. It is expected to be commissioned by June 2012.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) will supply Cauvery drinking water to residents on the outskirts of the City from June this year, Minister for Bangalore Water Supply and Sewer

Indians know little about the water they use and the waste they discharge

Water is life, and sewage tells its life story. This is the subject of the “Citizens’ Seventh Report on the State of India’s Environment”, Excreta Matters: How urban India is soaking up water, polluting rivers and drowning in its own excreta. It has a seemingly simple plot: it only asks where Indian cities get their water from and where their waste goes. But this is not just a question or answer about water, pollution and waste.

Considering the dismal record of different Water Dispute Tribunals, the Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has decided to amend the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 — notably to rep