Mumbai: The first verdict from international health experts stationed at the Kumbh Mela to record diseases among pilgrims has been positive.

Jaipur: The state government is mulling to impose fresh charges on developers for laying water pipelines in new residential colonies, housing societies and highrise buildings. The idea was proposed during a meeting of the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) and the Urban Development and Housing (UDH) on Wednesday.

Keeping in view the depleting groundwater level, the government is close to revising the guidelines for water distribution. “To resolve the water supply problem in new colonies and high-rise buildings, the UDH) and PHED will prepare a preliminarily report,” said N K Khare, chief town planner of Jaipur. Revising guidelines for water distribution are also on the cards.

Pune: The standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday took a step forwardin drawing water for the city from the Bhama Askhed dam, situated about 40 km from the city in Khed taluka. The municipal commissioner has been given the right to acquire land for laying the pipeline.

“The committee also gave a go ahead to generate funds for the project through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the state government,”said Baburao Chandere, chairman of the standing committee.

Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar called on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday to discuss government proposal to privatise the supply of water in the national capital. Calling the move unconstitutional, Justice Sachar said he was "totally against the idea of privatising what is a citizen's basic right".

Justice Sachar, as patron of the Water Privatisation-Commercialisation Resistance Committee, met Dikshit in her office. "The privatisation of water is unconstitutional since our Constitution gives each citizen a right to live, and water is among the most basic of needs to survive. I am against any idea to charge huge sums of money for water," Justice Sachar told reporters after the meeting.

Jalasaksharatha Mission-Kerala has demanded that the government abandon its move to form a company to distribute drinking water.

In a statement, the organisation’s Executive Director C.A. Vijayachandran, said the proposed company, to be formed on the model of Cochin International Airport Limited, would sell water based on profit.

Pune: The state government has disbursed Rs 413.98 crore so far to tackle the water scarcity situation in different parts of the state. Western Maharashtra and Marathwada are the worst affected regions in the state as they have received the lowest rainfall in the state during the last monsoon.

The government has allocated over Rs 400 crore to the department of water supply and the department of revenue, a senior secretary from the state revenue department said. “Besides, the government has given powers to the district collectors for spending up to Rs 2 crore as emergency funds. The funds are meant to ensure quick payment to water tankers, as many of them are privately owned.”

The Maha Kumbh Mela, considered the largest public gathering in the world, will be the subject of a case study at Harvard University, which will study the logistics and economics behind it and the “pop-up mega-city” that comes to life in Allahabad during the religious event.

A team of faculty and students from Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), School of Design, Harvard Business School, School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Global Health Institute would travel to Allahabad for the project 'Mapping India's Kumbh Mela'.