Tamil Nadu is opposed to the Central government’s plans to link grants to States with the regulation of water tariffs.

State
Public Works Department secretary M Sai Kumar, while addressing a
seminar on ‘Status of Functioning of Water Regulatory Authority in
India’ organised by State Water Resources Management Agency in Chennai,
said the State government was against plans to link funds to States by
dictating terms on raising tariffs.

“There is no study to prove that raising tariffs reduces water consumption,” Kumar argued. 

As
per the recommendation of 13th Finance Commission, every State should
introduce a water regulatory authority to fix charges for use of surface
and sub-surface water for domestic, agriculture, industrial and other
purposes.

Kumar said the State was against a water regulatory authority if its prime objective was to fix tariffs.

R
K Gupta, chief engineer of the Central Water Commission said that
regulation in tariffs would help in better conservation and efficient
usage of water.

 Gupta stressed the need to think about changing
the crop pattern on account of erratic rainfall and noted that
conservation was necessary as the demand for water from industries was
likely to rise five-fold.

S S Rajagopal, director of State Water
Resources Management Agency (SWRMA) said  SWRMA was gathering all
water-related data including demand and supply and was putting them on a
GIS-based platform for better policing.

“The plan is to put the
data on the web so that all departments can make the best use of it,” he
added. Currently, SWRMA has data of 89 dams including four reservoirs.