Urban News

The Hindu - Delhi 12.08.2009

Centre, States asked to address water shortage

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday attributed the spurt in prices of essential commodities to the monsoon failure in many States, expressed concern over the plight of the common man and directed the Centre and States to take short-term measures to solve water problem on a war- footing.

A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and A.K. Ganguly was hearing a public interest litigation petition.

The court had directed appointment of an expert committee for scientific research on tackling water shortage in the country.

During the resumed hearing on Tuesday on the petition filed by advocate M.K. Balakrishnan that sought court intervention on solving water shortage, Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam said the government-appointed Technical Experts Committee (TEC) on water solutions was conducting research on various aspects.

Mr. Justice Katju told the Solicitor-General that the TEC had done a commendable job. It could consider steps to alleviate the immediate crisis caused by scanty rainfall.

He pointed out that the “country is facing a terrible situation due to monsoon failure and rising prices, particularly of cereals and pulses used by the common man. States like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh were the worst hit by the water scarcity.”

Mr. Subramaniam assured the court that the government was fully alive to the situation and all possible steps were being taken to bring down prices.

Earlier, the Centre, in its affidavit, informed the court that besides setting up the TEC, it was launching a “WAR” mission for dealing with the water problem in various parts of the country. WAR stands for Winning (water from sustainable resources), Augmentation (of quality of water from available and accessible sources) and Renovation for recycle.

In its order, the Bench said: “The committee has done a commendable job. In the report they have gone into great detail on how to solve the water problem in the country. We request the committee to continue to work on a war-footing and try to stick to the schedule.

"The Central government and all State governments are directed to provide all help — financial, technical and administrative — to the said committee so that the great water problem in the country can be solved.”

The Bench said: “We may also mention that at present there seems to be a monsoon failure in large parts of India because of which people are suffering. We request the committee to consider measures to alleviate the immediate crisis which people in large parts of the country are facing.”

The Bench directed the matter to be listed for further hearing on October 20.

The Hindu - Andhra Pradesh 12.08.2009

GVMC seeks more water from Yeleru canal

Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM: To tide over the situation arising out of meagre inflows into reservoirs that provide water to the city, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation is pumping water from the Godavari lift irrigation scheme at Kateru.

The water situation has been difficult following poor inflows into the reservoirs. Rain, since the North East monsoon has set in, has not been adequate to improve the levels in the reservoirs though rainfall has been described as “normal.” Recently, the GVMC has been asked to draw only 50 cusecs instead of the 250 cusecs it has been drawing from the Yeleru canal, mainly meant for irrigation.

District Collector J. Syamala Rao had held a meeting with Municipal Commissioner B. Sridhar and other officials on Monday to review the water situation. At the meeting, it was decided that the GVMC should write a letter to the Irrigation Department to release more water from the Yeleru canal to meet the needs of the city and that of the steel plant and the NTPC.

Repeat of 2004

A letter has been addressed through the Collector to the Principal Secretary (Irrigation) urging that 150 cusecs of water be released to the GVMC.

“As of now, the water levels in the reservoirs are poor. The situation can be compared to 2004 when the city experienced a lean season,” said an official of the GVMC.

Besides urging the Irrigation Department for release of more water, the GVMC is using two motors to pump about 100 cusecs of water at Kateru. The pumping of water together with the augmentation from Yeleru canal is expected to give about 64 mgd of water adequate to meet the city’s needs, explained the official.