The Hindu 19.11.2009

City ready to harvest rainwater

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: To enable Bangaloreans implement the new rule of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in their buildings, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has set up an exclusive helpdesk. People can call 23341652; 23348848 or 23348849 to clear their doubts.

The helpdesk, located on the premises of the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) campus, was launched on Wednesday by BWSSB Chairman P.B. Ramamurthy.

Addressing presspersons after the launch, Mr. Ramamurthy said engineers manning the helpdesk will assist callers with information on the authorised plumbers, architects and technicians in their areas to install rainwater harvesting (RWH) system in their building.

Community programme

“We are training registered plumbers, architects and technicians on installing RWH units and are also posting their contact details on our official website. People can either get their details online or contact the helpdesk. We want people to accept this rule, which has been mandatory from November 1, as a community programme in their own interest,” Mr. Ramamurthy said.

“The engineers would make spot visits in case of requests from citizens. The idea is to help citizens in all possible ways to put up a system. We will start a mass awareness programme by holding competitions for children and publicising in the media to popularise the system,” he said.

“The IISc. campus is a temporary location for the helpdesk and it would be shifted to Jayanagar in a year, where a comprehensive theme park on RWH is coming up,” he said.

Punitive measures

All new buildings on sites measuring 30 x 40 and above will have to compulsorily adopt rainwater harvesting technique, or else the BWSSB will not sanction water and sanitary connections them.

The State Cabinet has approved amendments to the BWSSB Act to enable the board to take action if the rule was not followed.

The rule was mandatory for existing buildings on sites measuring 60 ft by 40 ft and above.

“If they don’t implement it within nine months, their connections will be cut,” Mr. Ramamurthy said.

Tenders for work on the Cauvery IV Stage 2nd Phase have been invited and work is expected to be completed by March 2011.

This would enable the Board to augment an additional 500 million litres of water daily (mld), Mr. Ramamurthy said.

A.R. Shivakumar, Principal Investigator for RWH at the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST), Indian Institute of Science, who is heading the Technical Committee that framed a policy document for RWH in the State, said the focus should be on rooftop harvesting at the moment.

The Times of India 18.11.2009

DDA sacks contractor to meet deadline for practice venue

Rumu Bannerjee, TNN 18 November 2009, 05:39am IST

NEW DELHI: With six months left to the deadline, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) seems to have decided to become a strict paymaster. It has terminated the contract of the consortium building the practice areas in the Commonwealth Games Village, a first for the land agency in a Games-related project. The reason: failure to meet expectations and norms as per the agreement. Now, DDA plans to implement the project itself.

Admitted Neemo Dhar, spokesperson for the DDA, "We rescinded the contract as the terms of the agreement were not being met. The DDA will now implement the project through sub-contractors.'' The decision comes barely months before the deadline June 2010. The internal deadline for the agency's contractors is, incidentally, March 2010. The consortium Sportina Payce Infrastructure Pvt Ltd was to build the practice venues within the Commonwealth Games Village, including the swimming, wrestling and athletic tracks as well as the field area for hammer throw and other facilities. With the termination however, DDA will have to step into the breach, admitted officials.

Sources in the land agency claimed that one of the primary reasons for the termination was the consortium`s inability to provide adequate labour, resulting in unmet deadlines. A senior DDA official said, "The contractor had been engaged last year but deadlines were not being met consistently. Despite repeated warnings, there was no improvement, so the contract had to be terminated.'' Despite repeated attempts, officials from Sportina Payce were not available for comments.

Said a senior official, "We expect the work to continue without a hitch as the sub-contractors will remain the same, only they will be working for us directly now.'' Officials said that work on the venues had already started under the agency in order to meet the March deadline. "It is a tough task, especially as a large part of the work still needs to be done. With DDA directly handling the project, it is expected that the project will get back on track, though the internal March deadline may not be a possibility,'' added the official.

Its not the first time that work at the Village has come to a grinding halt due to differences with the contractor. Earlier this year, lack of funds had prompted Emaar MGF, the consortium in-charge of the Village construction, to stop work at the site. While DDA had eventually rescued the consortium at that time with a financial bailout, the interruption had resulted in delay of the project. This time, DDA is hoping that the termination of the contractor will not have an impact, despite the fact that only four months are left to the internal deadline.