Indian Express 19.12.2009
Water meters in colonies: Ball back in mayor’s court
The Municipal Corporation once again skirted a decision on the issue of providing metered water connections in rehabilitation colonies and a hike in water tariff. The Water Supply and Sewerage Disposal Committee, in a meeting held on Friday, referred the issue to the House.
Hike in water tariff, providing metered connections and imposing house tax are part of the reforms to be implemented under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). But a verdict has been pending on the issue for the past many months.
The officials had prepared the agenda to be included in the House Meet.
However, not willing to approve the decision, the councillors did not spend much time on it.
With the officials of the civic body in favour of implementation and the elected representatives opposed, the implementation of reforms seems to have hit a wall.
Recently, the UT Finance Secretary in a meeting with the Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner had directed that the reforms be implemented.
The Centre had also raised the issue with Municipal Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria.
Subsequently, Mayor Kamlesh decided to refer the issue to the respective committees for discussion on the plea that that their recommendations be recorded. Now, the water committee has thrown the ball back into Kamlesh’s court.
A member of the water committee, Dr A P Sanwaria, said it is a policy matter and has to be discussed by the House.
“It is not within the purview of the committee to single-handedly take a decision,” he added.
Chairman of the committee Ravinder Pal Singh said the estimate of the project (installation of meters) is Rs 1.58 crore, which is beyond the scope of the committee. A decision would have to be taken by the House.
There are more than 19,000 unmetered water connections in rehabilitation colonies.
