The Times of India                        20.11.2010

KMC's priority: Culture or water? Crores

KOLKATA: For the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, what comes first, providing basic amenities or culture? If you thought it was the former, here's a reality check: the civic body is ready to spend Rs 5.4 crore on providing an uplifting cultural experience to Kolkatans. This wouldn't normally be such a bad thing, but consider this, too: it is ready to spend just Rs 5 crore to carry out urgent overhauls of a treatment plant that supplies water to large parts of south Kolkata.

At a time when large portions of south Kolkata have been regularly going dry, the Trinamool Congress-led civic body's decision to spend so much on culture has raised serious questions over its priorities.

South Kolkata residents have been facing an acute water crisis regularly for the past few months, thanks to frequent breakdowns at the Garden Reach water treatment plant. The plant, owned by the Kolkata Metropolitan Water & Sanitation Authority (KMW&SA), supplies water to almost the whole of south Kolkata. It has been showing a host of problems in the recent past, and is in need of an urgent overhaul, said civic sources. A funds crunch, however, has always been the official reason for not going for a complete repairs. Though the state government is the owner of the plant, 80% of the water produced from the plant is distributed to south Kolkata. Hence, the KMC authorities should have had an equal stake. However, while KMW&SA has sanctioned Rs 15 crore, KMC has sanctioned only Rs 5 crore for making necessary changes to the plant.

This has angered urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya. An irate Bhattacharya claimed on Thursday that KMC "would have to pay Rs 600 crore as pending bills for buying water from KMW&SA for the past three decades". KMC might not have shared an equal burden as far as the treatment plant is concerned, but that does not mean that the civic body is cash-strapped. A look at the expenditure on the cultural front in past five months will give a fair picture how the KMC administration has spent or is ready to spend crores on the cultural front. Soon after assuming office, the mayor announced a cultural programme at Citizens' Park, where KMC also felicitated some of the city's celebrities. The civic body had to shell out Rs 25 lakh for the programme. The civic body's decision to offer the Kolkatasree award to organisers of Durga Pujas has also been criticized by the opposition. KMC had hired Science City for the venue and had organised a cultural event, which ultimately cost it Rs 35 lakh. A grand Iftar party hosted by KMC at the Park Circus Maidan this year had cost the civic exchequer Rs 30 lakh, said a source.

And that' not all. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee proudly announced a week ago that KMC would take over Uttam Mancha at Jatin Das Road in south Kolkata. Though a disputed property, the civic body is ready to spend Rs 2 crore for taking over the auditorium named after the matinee idol. Next in the agenda is taking over Ahindra Mancha in south Kolkata. This auditorium needs complete renovation and the civic authorities would need to spend around Rs 2.5 crore on it, said a KMC source.

Civic opposition leader Rupa Bagchi questioned whether being the cultural guardians of the city was a duty of the civic body. "Taking over auditoriums by spending crores, organising award functions and cultural events spending crores show that the present KMC board has something different up its sleeves. While an essential service like water supply is being neglected, the Trinamool Congress has been trying to become city's cultural guardians using the civic body's man and money power," Bagchi said on Friday.

The Hindu      20.11.2010

New schemes may stretch GVMC water supply

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation's water supply system will be stretched once two more water supply schemes meant for Gajuwaka and the 32 villages that merged in the erstwhile municipal corporation become operational.

The corporation's present supply of 56 million gallons a day (mgd) will go up roughly by another 40 mgd once the schemes are completed.

Water supply officials are upbeat that the torrential rains this year will see it through for the next two summers. Apart from the reservoirs being full, the groundwater levels have improved considerably.

The acute summer that had been experienced was due to poor levels in the reservoirs and also groundwater levels sinking drastically forcing GVMC to resort to water supply on alternate days.

If at least 50 to 60 per cent of the normal rainfall is recorded during coming years, the situation would be comfortable until the summer of 2012, officials hope.

But the completion of the two schemes will necessitate drawing of about 40 mgd of water from the Yeleru reservoir. With hardly any storage capacity added and if a lean season occurs, the GVMC would find it difficult to supply 96 mgd of water once the new schemes, taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) are operational.

Besides, officials admit that the growing water needs, domestic and industrial, will further increase the demand.

But since the new schemes are based on drawing water from Yeleru reservoir through the canal, it has to be maintained well and its carrying capacity increased by at least 20 to 25 per cent, as a short-term measure. That being the case, the only short-term alternative is to improve the carrying capacity of Yeleru canal. But if the canal levels fall drastically as had happened during this summer, it would be a difficult situation. The replacement of the Tatipudi pipeline now going on will improve its capacity from 6 mgd to 10 mgd provides some solace.

Ironically, while two lean seasons had led to the Yeleru canal not being closed for maintenance the proposal to close it this month had to be postponed because of the heavy inflows into it. “Now, we intend to take up maintenance work after closing it from January 20,” says Superintendent Engineer (Water Supply) V. Chandraiah.

In the long-term, laying a pipeline from the Godavari lift irrigation scheme at Kateru near Rajahmundry and the Polavaram barrage left main canal which brings 24 tmcft water to the district, are considered as solutions.