Karnataka - Mysore   

Water supply services will not be privatised: Mayor

MYSORE: The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has clarified that the MoU signed with Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Ltd. (JUSCO) does not amount to privatisation of water supply services but is only a contract to remodel, manage and maintain the drinking water supply system in the city.

Reacting to the brewing controversy, Mayor Ayub Khan, at a hurriedly convened press conference on Monday evening, said that apprehensions being raised by non-governmental organisations were unfounded and not based on ground realities.

Mr. Khan also allayed fears that the water tariff would increaseand pointed out that the power to hike the tariff was vested with the corporation and the elected council.

He said the MoU would benefit the MCC, which was incurring an annual expenditure of nearly Rs. 30 crore on the maintenance of the waterworks while income was only Rs. 18 crore. But JUSCO would be paid Rs. 16.2 crore over a period of six years as fee towards maintenance and implementation charges, which would amount to a considerable amount being saved.

Mr. Khan said that JUSCO would provide water throughout the city by lifting 224 MLD of water, which is the current capacity of the Vani Vilas Waterworks (VVW). The coverage would be by way of improvement in distribution and plugging leaks.

JUSCO had a good reputation of carrying out similar work in Jamshedpur, said the Mayor who pointed out that the MoU says the company has to ensure water at high pressure throughout the day.

He said the existing tariff would be maintained but improvement in revenue collection was expected by way of better efficiency in water supply and management as also metering illegal connections. There were about 1.3 lakh unmetered connections. Future billing would be on a monthly basis, Mr. Khan added.

JUSCO would spend the first year studying and analysing the existing water distribution system and the next three years would be the implementation period.

The company would maintain the waterworks for another two years after which the contract would cease, said Mr. Khan.

H.M. Gowdegowda, president of the Mysore unit of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) Employees’ Association, told a press conference on Monday that the fate of KUWSDB employees deputed to VVW was hanging in the balance since the association understood that there was no clear mention about them in the agreement.

According to him, the permanent staff strength of VVW was 350 and there were 291 contract workers.

“Some employees of VVW are about to retire during the tenure of the agreement, and it is necessary to make the payment of their retirement benefits clear,” he said, adding that the city corporation had not settled dues of employees who had retired recently.

He added that the employees would not oppose the agreement if the employees’ interests were protected and the injustice meted out to them was corrected.

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