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Dikshit for 'reform' in water supply
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday said she was in favour of overhauling the water distribution system on the lines of electricity distribution - without saying whether she wanted water distribution to be privatised like the power sector.
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday said she was in favour of overhauling the water distribution system on the lines of electricity distribution - without saying whether she wanted water distribution to be privatised like the power sector.
She used words like "reform" and "revolutionised" to explain what she intended to do to make the water supply scenario better.
Answering a question by MLA Hasan Ahmad in the Delhi Assembly about water supply problems, Dikshit said the water sector could also be revolutionised "in the way reforms have been implemented in power distribution" in the city.
The Delhi government had privatised the distribution of electricity in the city in 2002.
The DJB, which looks after water distribution, has been under fire over contamination of water and erratic supply for years. The chief minister is the chairperson of the Board.
Dikshit added that a presentation on the issue of would be made in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and would be shown to all the MLAs some time in May.
Last year, the DJB had outsourced the jobs of water billing and installation of water meters to make the services more efficient.
A number of residents had also complained about inflated water bills after which the government had introduced electronic billing system to remove those inadequacies and help DJB in enhancing its revenue.
A senior DJB official said, "We are zeroing in on pilot projects in some operational areas and are planning to execute them on Public Private Partnership. Reform is certainly needed and we are taking a cue from projects executed in Nagpur, Raipur and Bangalore. Consultants are already working on three models in Vasant Vihar, Malviya Nagar and Nangloi."
The average demand of potable water in the city is around 1,100 mgd (million gallon per day) and currently DJB supplies around 800mgd water.
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