Karnataka - Mysore   

MoU on water supply project triggers debate

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Waiting for their turn: The project, according to authorities, will ensure equitable distribution of the Cauvery water to consumers in Mysore.

MYSORE: The memorandum of understanding signed by the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) with the Jamshedpur Utilities Services Company (JUSCO) Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, for water management has triggered a debate in the city.

While councillors, including Mayor Ayub Khan, are in favour of the concept, residents of the city and various citizens’ groups have opposed it on the grounds that this is the first step towards privatisation of water resources.

In what has been described as the largest water supply project being executed through the public-private partnership (PPP) model in the country, JUSCO, which won the Rs. 102-crore contract, will be responsible for managing the city’s water resources and ensuring equitable water supply round the clock. The project is being implemented under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The six-year performance-based contract was signed by the MCC and the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board with JUSCO on December 2.

According to the authorities, the project, which will be completed in three phases spread over six years, will ensure equitable distribution of the Cauvery water treated at Hongalli and Melapur water works to consumers.

But this has triggered a debate and questions are being raised over the wisdom of entering into the contract which many perceive to be a move towards privatisation of water resources. The Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore, the Federation of Tax Payers’ Association and other groups have expressed their apprehensions and wondered who will control the tariff structure, ensure social equity in water distribution and what will be the future of employees of Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW).

Mr. Khan has clarified that JUSCO is only implementing a contract awarded to it, and that the MCC was only outsourcing technical expertise to implement a project and thus it was by no means privatisation. Under the agreement, the MCC will pay Rs. 16.02 crore over six years to JUSCO while the latter will be responsible for ushering in efficiency by legalising all water connections, ensuing metered billing and checking leakage, according to the Mayor. The amount of water drawn from the source will remain 224 million litres a day. This is reckoned to be sufficient to meet the demand in all localities in the city only if the existing infrastructure is upgraded and better managed. The authorities perceive tremendous savings in revenue and water if the system is managed by JUSCO. They also aver that there will be no increase in water tariff.

But the public is not convinced. As the project is being implemented under JNNURM, Union Government will contribute 80 per cent of the cost and the State Government another 10 per cent. The remaining expenditure has to be borne by the local body and this will be possible only if there is a tax increase. Citizens fear that councillors will introduce a “marginal tax hike” at the fag end of their five-year tenure. The marginal increase in water tariff may be unbearable to lower income groups and marginalised section of society. This may result in the poor reducing their water consumption, which will only promote inequitable water consumption, thus defeating the principle behind the PPP.

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