Justice Sachar writes to Sheila: “Consumers will have to pay more for services”

A non-government organisation, the Water Privatisation-Commercialisation Resistance Committee (WPCRC), has written to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit against privatising the water sector in the Capital. Drawing comparisons with privatisation of the power sector carried out earlier, the WPCRC has pointed out that bringing private companies into the water sector would mean consumers having to pay more for services.

As it convened a meeting of the National Water Resources Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, on Wednesday to discuss the proposed National Water Policy, one of the Central government’s key sugg

Opposition to overarching legal framework of principles on water

A conference of Water Resources and Irrigation Ministers here on Wednesday saw opposition to the Centre’s proposal to evolve an overarching national legal framework of principles on water, to link financial assistance to “aggressive” water sector reforms and to set up a Permanent Forum of Water Resources and Irrigation Ministers to deliberate on issues/disputes.

‘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.

After several failed attempts in the past, the water distribution system in the city is likely to undergo a complete transformation with the state government approving the privatisation of its mana

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.

The experience of the last two decades is a testimony to the growing clout of the corporate sector to gain control over natural resources of the country.

Resident welfare associations (RWAs) of south Delhi, the area where the pilot project to privatise the water supply has been implemented, said that they would oppose the project unless the Delhi Ja