Delhi gets 50% plan outlay hike, told to privatise water

Delhi's new tagline --- caring city --- has earned it a 33 % increase in allocation for the 12th plan (2012-17) but with a price --- privatisation of capital's water distribution.

Updated on: Aug 10, 2012, 24:38:27 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Delhi's new tagline --- caring city --- has earned it a 33 % increase in allocation for the 12th plan (2012-17) but with a price --- privatisation of capital's water distribution.

The Planning Commission on Thursday allocated Rs. 90,000 crore for the 12th plan as compared to around Rs. 60,000 crore in the 11th plan and pushed Delhi government for privatisation in water. For 2012-13, an annual plan of Rs. 15,862 crore was approved.

"We will ensure 24 X7 water supply all with public-private partnership," Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit told plan panel officials and said that the Jal Board has already initiated pilot PPP water distribution projects in select areas such as Malviya Nagar.

The panel wanted entire city to be covered under this PPP model to reduce water distribution losses and ensure potable and safe drinking water to all by 2017. Delhi government said it will ensure 100 % Bureau of Indian Standard water quality to all consumers.

While Delhi will get a sky-bus, three new medical colleges, five new nursing schools, new flyovers, educational hub at Bakkarwala and four new power plants, the focus will be empowerment of economically and socially backwards through increase in scholarships, pensions and endowments under different government schemes.

Delhi government's mission --- 12th plan --- will see addition of 3,000 new beds in hospital beds, financial assistance to HIV/AIDS affected people, free health test of students in government schools, zero pollution discharge into river Yamuna and policies to restrain use of private vehicles.

Dikshit also announced that Delhi will be a slum and kerosene free city by end of the 12th plan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.