THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Water Resources Regulatory Authority Bill, piloted by water resources minister P J Joseph in the assembly on Monday, won't be passed during the current assembly session. The subject committee of the assembly, which met here on Tuesday, could not give a final shape to the amendments for the Bill.

Sources said along with LDF MLAs, a few members of the UDF also raised strong objections to certain clauses in the Bill. Following this, the subject committee decided to study the issue in detail and, if needed, seek public opinion before the final draft is presented in the assembly.

"When it was taken up for debate, members wanted a detailed study of some clauses. Hence, we decided not to press for the Bill during the current session," P J Joseph told TOI. He, however, ruled out the chances for referring the Bill to a select committee so that views of general public can also be incorporated.

It is learnt that the clause that maintains to fix the tariff for drinking water supply based on the cost of the project and other expenses incurred was the one which invited the wrath of the members. Cutting across political lines, MLAs shared apprehension that it would shoot up water bills and turn water an unaffordable commodity for the common man. The minister himself was against another clause which might give uncontrolled power to fix tariff to the authority.

The Bill was formulated by the government in 2011 as suggested by the 13th Finance Commission. It was first promulgated as an ordinance on November 30, 2011. The ordinance had been renewed every six months and the Bill was first introduced in the assembly on Monday.

The Bill suggests forming an authority, on the lines of Kerala state electricity regulatory authority, to control the drinking water distribution. The three-member authority will monitor water supply and decide on the amount of water required for various sections of consumers. It will also insist on the quality norms to be followed by various agencies engaged in drinking water distribution.

PUNE: The vexed issue of taxing mobile towers located in the city is likely to be resolved as the standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday gave a green signal to penalise illegal towers and regularise them. The committee expects collect Rs 25 crore from the drive.

Vishal Tambe, the chairman of the committee, said the administration will appoint an agency to carry out the process of regularisation. "The aim is to generate revenue from use of towers which are operating without paying a penny to the civic administration. There are around 2,000 towers in the city and the civic body gets property tax on just 750 of them. The installers of the remaining 1,250 towers neither pay tax nor have they completed the paperwork," said Tambe.

The chairman said that the PMC does not have an exact data on the number of illegal or legal towers. "So all the towers, for which tax is not paid, are considered illegal. At the same time, several towers are operating without the required paper work. So, technically they are not illegal. But the fact remains that the PMC is not getting any tax against them. Now a survey will be done to identify illegal towers," said Tambe.

The building permission department had in January submitted a proposal to the standing committee to appoint an agency for the survey. According to the proposal, the agency is expected to contact cell phone service providers and check if they have completed the formalities while installing the towers. The staff appointed by the agency is also expected to inspect the sites. The agency will keep a record of violations in norms, if any, and convey it to the administration.

The issue of illegal towers was highlighted in January after the PMC had conducted a drive to recover property tax dues from telecom service providers in the city. The civic administration had sent notices to the defaulting telecom companies, who paid Rs 16 crore in dues then.

However, civic activists have questioned the move. "Structural audits of buildings should be done before regularizing the towers," said Vishwas Sahastrabuddhe of the Sajag Nagrik Manch. He said the weight carrying capacity of the buildings should be checked. If a building does not seem fit to carry the weight, the towers should be removed.

"Several surveys have raised questions about health hazards caused by mobile towers. There are norms set by various ministries for installing them. They should be strictly followed. All these factors should be considered before regularizing the towers," said Vijay Kumbhar of Surajya Sangharsha Samiti.