Deccan Herald 23.02.2010

The increase in tariff has been proposed by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to compensate for the excess expenditure incurred due to the recent hike in power charges.

The State government is yet to take a final decision, but the BWSSB is ready with its rationale for the hike. Board chairperson P B Ramamurthy said the BWSSB is incurring an additional expenditure of Rs 2.5 crore on the bills to be paid to BESCOM every month due to the increase in power bills.

“The annual expenditure towards power bills was Rs 260 crore earlier, but the increase in power tariff has now shot up this expense by 11.5 per cent now,” Ramamurthy explained at a talk arranged by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here.

Water needs to be pumped to the City from a distance of 100 kilometres.

The board, he said, is helpless. The burden has to be passed on to consumers. That means the Bangalorean has no escape from the summer woes, compounded by the power crisis.

Currently, the minimum water tariff is Rs 45 for water consumption up to a maximum of 8,000 litres a month, according to BWSSB spokesman Prahlad Rao.

Augmenting supply

The board has also recommended to the government two concrete steps to augment drinking water supply.

“To ensure additional supply of water to Bangalore apart from Stage IV and Phase II, we have asked the State to ensure an additional 12 TMC feet of water from the Cauvery,” Ramamurthy said.

A proposal has also been made to divert West-flowing rivers and tap the water from them.

The City is now reeling under a shortage of 300 million litres per day. The level in the T G Halli reservoir, which caters to the water requirements of West Bangalore, is just 20 feet out of its total capacity of 74 feet.

This is a 12-foot reduction in water level compared to the readings in the previous year. The completion of the Rs 3,384-crore Cauvery Stage IV Phase II project by the end of 2011 will ensure an additional 500 million litres of water per day for the City.

Power worries

FKCCI president J Crasta said the frequent power shutdowns in the State during the last one week is proving to be disastrous for the industry.

“Industries all over the State are incurring a loss of Rs 1 crore per day due to the erractic supply,” he added.

Ramamurthy said the BWSSB would set up 10 additional sewerage treatment plants.

“At the moment, we have the capacity to treat 721 million litres of sewerage but only around 346 million litres are being treated as the rest go to storm water drains,” he said.

He also said the government would soon implement a zero sewerage zone project in the Hebbal valley in the city.

Deccan Chronicle 23.02.2010

Without K3, city’s future looks dry

Hyderabad, Feb. 22: Urban development experts have sharply criticised the government decision to shelve Krishna Phase-III and have asked it to urgently revive the project if Greater Hyderabad is not to languish without even a pot of water in the future.

The lack of mention of Krishna Phase-III in the recently presented state budget came as a shock to many of them. According to the experts, the city requires both Krishna Phase-III and Godavari water if future needs are taken into account.

“The water requirement in Greater Hyderabad will go up to 1,200 million gallons per day in the next 10 to 15 years, and presently the supply is a meagre 330 MGD per day,” pointed out Mr Srinivasa Chary, director of the Administrative Staff College of India.

Greater Hyderabad is already facing water shortage with just 130 litre per capita per day supply to each citizen in core city, and 80 LPCD per citizen in surrounding municipalities. As per Central norms, each person should get 150 LPCD each. Mr Chary said the city was losing 5.5 TMC of water that was allocated by the Centre for Krishna Phase-III. “Why should we forego the precious water?” he asked. “Besides, bringing Krishna Phase-III water to the city will cost only Rs 1,000 crore compared to over Rs 3,375 crore for Godavari-Phase- I.”

Mr M. Shashidhar Reddy, member of the National Disaster Management Authority, is also in favour of the Krishna Phase III project. “Yes, Godavari water is required, but it may take another three to four years for the Phase-I to be completed,” he said. “If works on Krishna Phase-III are started now, they can be completed in one year or even less time if speeded up.” Pipelines for Krishna have to be laid for only 115 km, whereas it is over 180 km for Godavari.

“Besides, land for Krishna project was acquired during execution of its Phase-I, while the government needs 2,500 acres for Godavari project,” he reminded.

He pointed out that Krishna Phase-III would allow the city to draw additional 90 MGD of water per day, and then Godavari Phase-I will fetch it 180 MGD per day after it is completed. “Subsequently, Godavari Phase-II and III will get us another 360 MGD water per day,” he said.

The MIM MP, Mr Asaduddin Owaisi, urged the state government to act in haste and execute Krishna Phase-III as well as Godavari in the context of the ongoing Telangana agitation.

“It has surcharged the atmosphere,” he said. “The water drawing points of both Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) and Godavari (Yellampalli in Karimnagar district) are in Telangana. If the government does not act quickly, it will spell a catastrophe for citizens.”

“Already, the reservoirs of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar are on the verge of drying up permanently,’ warned the BJP MLA, Mr G. Kishan Reddy. “Apart from Krishna, the only major source of drinking water to the city is Singur. But farmers are up in arms against the government over their water being supplied to the city from Singur.”

The home minister, Ms P. Sabita Indra Reddy, in charge of Greater Hyderabad, said, “I will take up the matter with the Chief Minister as revival of Krishna Phase-III can be only through a policy decision.”