‘Award of work for revamping water supply violates rules’

A non-government organisation working in the water sector has alleged misappropriation of funds by the Delhi Jal Board in the award of work for improvement and revamping of existing water supply, transmission and distribution network under the Nagloi Water Treatment Plant. Comparing the size and the scope of the project with design, construction, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of intake of a 50 MGD WTP and water supply distribution network in the city of Patna, the NGO has claimed that over Rs.1,000 crore are being misappropriated through the execution of the project in Nangloi.

Lays emphasis on long-term monitoring

Groundwater resources in Kerala have come under increasing stress from rising levels of exploitation and pollution, the first aquifer atlas of Kerala has revealed. The atlas, compiled by the Central Ground Water Board, estimates the net annual groundwater availability in the State at 6.01 billion cubic metres as on March 2011. The stage of “groundwater development” for the State as a whole has been computed at 47 per cent. The utilisation pattern is, however, uneven across the State, with groundwater-stressed conditions in some parts and sub-optimal groundwater development in some others.

Growth is happening faster than we ever imagined. Construction is booming and expansion is gobbling agricultural land

I travelled to two different cities in two different states last fortnight — Indore and Guwahati. I came back with images identified by common distinctions: piles of garbage and glitzy new shopping malls. Is this our vision of urban development? There is no question that cities are imploding; growth is happening faster than we ever imagined. Construction is booming and expansion is gobbling agricultural land.

SHILLONG: In a ray of hope for the water-starved residents of Jowai and adjoining villages, the much-delayed river pumping water supply scheme for the area is expected to be commissioned by March 2013.

An official of the PHE department recently informed that the project is in its final stages and 90 per cent of the work has already been completed. “The department is currently carrying out the distribution of pipelines,” the official said.

PPPs in infra are on the cusp of disaster. The country needs a different strategy to build public services infrastructure

Growth is back on the agenda, says the government. It is hoping that with pushy announcements foreign and Indian investment will miraculously start pouring in and infrastructure will be the name of the game once again. But this assumption ignores one crucial detail: currently, public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure are on the cusp of disaster. India needs a different strategy to build public services infrastructure.

‘Supply of water is a human right, it cannot be leased out’

Even as the Delhi administration is getting ready to implement public private partnership model in water distribution in three areas of the city, a protest against the decision is all set to spill on to the streets. The members of the Water Privatisation-Commercialisation Resistance Committee (WPCRC) have slammed the government for trying to privatise water supply and cautioned that unless the government rolls back the initiatives, the protests will be intensified across the city.

The AP High Court on Monday directed the state government to file a status report on the quantity of the Krishna water required to cater to the drinking water needs of the people of Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Nalgonda, Guntur and Prakas-am districts. The court said it had no concern with politics, only with equal distribution of water to all the regions of the state.

A Division Bench, comprising acting Chief Jus-tice P.C. Ghose and Just-ice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar, was dealing with petitions seeking a direction to the state government to not release water from Nagarjunasagar to the Krishna Delta if the water level in the reservoir was below 510 feet. D. Prakash Reddy, senior counsel arguing for the petitioners, brought to the notice of the court that the water levels at Srisailam and Nagarju-nasagar reservoirs may not be sufficient to fulfill drinking water needs till June 30, 2012.

A proposal to privatise water supply and distribution in a few areas in the city has kicked up a row with union leaders threatening to disrupt the daily water supply if the government does not abandon the privatisation proposal. Though privatising water supply was first proposed in 2000-01, during the Telugu Desam regime, it was kept in abeyance following sharp criticism that the then ruling party was dancing to the tunes of the World Bank.

In 2010, privatisation of at least a single operation and maintenance division in the city was mooted, but the unions shot it down. The current privatisation proposal too has been opposed by the Water Works Employees’ Union.

PANJIM: At a time when every single drop of water has been termed as precious by the state government, which aims to provide 24x7 supply, up to 12,000 cubic meters (or 12 MLD) of water treated at the sewerage plant at Tonca is flushed out into River Mandovi every single day.

The water is so clean that just one tertiary unit more of treatment at the plant would make it fit to drink by even Singapore standards. But as it is, the water is waiting to be used at least for gardening, washing and other such purposes. Except that the authorities prefer to, literally, just flush it down the river.

Water supply within Noida is set to improve in drastically with the putting in place a separate power feed for its water distribution system.