No Water Democracy in Delhi
NEW DELH1, 20TH JUNE 2012 : Bhagwan
Das had migrated to Delhi a decade ago and settled in what the Govt. calls an
‘unauthorised colony’ of Delhi near Sangam Vihar. Today with wife and 3
children the migrant labour is a Rickshaw puller with an income of nearly five
thousand per month spends his earning like this : he pays Rs. 800 jhuggi rent
to a local neta, spends Rs two thousand five hundred on ration from the
open bazar, and one thousand eight hundred to buy water per month.
And Das is not alone, most of the residents
of the 1639 unauthorised colonies of the capital spend their earning in the
same way, with no other facility such as education for their children.
As the Rio +20 starts today to discuss the
environment and water issues,one may wonder why people have to buy water from
the contractor in a place like Delhi where the government claim that they have
double the amount of water what is required for people residing in Delhi. World
Health Organisation has set a minimum consumption level at 120 liters per
capita which is a far dream for Delhi’s 90 percent population. Ironically The
Lutyens Delhi consume 80 percent of the total supply of water.
In a press conference conducted by the Right
to Water Campaign - the speakers raised concerns about the need of an equal
water distribution system.
Colin Gonsalves,
a popular human rights lawyer expressed his concern on the lack of a Water
Security Act that ensures universal water distribution, in India.
Magsaysay Award winner, Rajendra Singh,
who was on a sit-in protest in Delhi till Monday, questioned the intention of
policy makers in India. Rajendra singh, better known as ‘The water man - Jal
Purush’ is known for restoring the traditional water sources in Alwar district
of Rajasthan, making the area self dependent.
Himanshu Thakkar,
a noted water researcher and campaigner, found major loopholes in the
National Water Policy 2012 and demanded a citizen and climate friendly
water policy. He said that “the crisis portrayed by the government is
artificial”.
Kavita Krushnan,
leader of CPIML - Liberation, claimed that the “government is blindly following
the conditions of World Bank and IMF without considering citizen’s concerns.”
Azad, a full time
activist with slum dwellers in Delhi, civic facilities for the slum dwellers
including water, said that “it is a shame that after 65 years of Independence
people have to buy water from the mafia and Jal Board is hardly concerned about
water problem faced by the poor people.”
The Right to Water Campaign
believes that it is not surprising that the Union Water Resources Minister
Pawan Kumar Bansal gave a statement in the Parliament on May 7, 2012
stating, "In the new proposed water policy, we have taken care to
emphasize that the State should be encouraged to go in for public private
partnership…public private partnership does not mean that you are privatizing
the water sector. We are not privatising the water sector."
He even mentioned names of
cities like Tirpur, Salt Lake Kolkata, Chennai, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Hubli,
Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Latoor, Mysore, Haldia, Dewas, Khandwa, Shivpuri,
Raipur, Kolhapur, etc. He argued "So many places for one purpose or the
other public private partnership model has been utilised, and it would be the
policy of the Government to encourage that."
Bansal's statement in the
Parliament misrepresents the facts and misleads the parliament and people as
well. The cities which were mentioned by the minister are cases of failed PPP
projects. Votaries of privatisation argue that they are not privatizing water,
but only involving private parties in managing it. The fact is no private
operator undertakes a project unless it is assured of its raw material i.e.
water.
We conducted a study in Delhi and found
how the PPP business deprives people of their fundamental right to water.
We filed a few RTI applications and with that thread researched the PPP moves
by the Delhi government and the findings are shocking. The Delhi
government is about to start three PPP projects in three areas namely Malviya
Nagar, Vasant Vihar and Nangloi.Each project will cost 173 crore (1730 million
INR) where water distribution system will be privatised in phases.
For more details, Contact : Kiran Shaheen at
+91 98180 65092
or alternatively write to righttowatercampaign@gmail.com
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