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| Also see : Rainwater Harvesting, Water |
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BMC's water supply project flows into trouble Activists see foul play in the appointment of French consultant The BMC's inaugural project to study the feasibility of 24-hour water supply in the K-East (Andheri) ward on Monday has run into trouble with several organisations protesting against the project. Civic organisations and activists have voiced concerns about the project after they were learnt that the BMC had appointed a French consulting firm, Castalia, to conduct the feasibility study. Moreover, the consultant will be paid around Rs3crore and the project will be monitored by the World Bank. Activists feared that Castalia would recommend handing over the water supply in the K-east ward to a private operator. They said if the BMC implemented such a suggestion, it would open the door to further privatisation of its services. Many people considered water supply an essential function of government, and think it was dangerous to hand over it to a private party. "It's a sellout!" said Shailesh Gandhi, an activist for government transparency, after attending the BMC's programme to inaugurate the project. Others echoed same feelings. "The BMC (water supply) is good," a woman said, and added that she did not want to change it. Others worry that the consultant will recommend a tariff hike. But the BMC said it would not raise the tariff in K-East and had no intention to privatise the supply. BMC's additional municipal commissioner Manu Kumar Srivastava also said that the BMC was free to reject the advice of the consultant if it was not satisfied. Ehardt, a team member of Castalia, said it would study the total leakage of water in Andheri (E), and recommend ways to stop water theft and leakage. He said it would also analyse the water requirement of slum-dwellers, flat-dwellers, and commercial users. It will also study why the average flat-dwelling Mumbaikar appears to consume more water than people in other Asian cities. According to Castalia, an average flat-dwelling Mumbaikar consumes 240 litres a day, Manila resident 127 litres, Jakarta resident 76.5 litres and Dhaka resident 104 litres. http://digital.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage =4&boxid=30841570&parentid=16458&eddate=05/16/2006 |
| Also see : Rainwater Harvesting, Water |
