The confusion on vesting the responsibility of supplying water to Mysuru has left both the elected representatives and the consumers divided on the issue.
With the JUSCO contract ending on May 31, 2015, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) resolved that it would take over the mantle of ensuring water supply to the city. The other alternative was to hand over the job to the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB).
While the MCC resolved in its council meeting that it will take over the responsibility, MLA M.K. Somashekar opined that the responsibility should be vested with the board as it was a professional organisation. He was not supported by any of the councillors who cited the 74th amendment to the Constitution devolving greater powers to the local bodies, including vesting it with the responsibility of water supply.
However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah aired his apprehensions over MCC’s capabilities to fulfil the demand and hinted that the KUWSDB would be vested with the responsibility. He went on to add that the board was in charge of water supply in many other cities.
This was interpreted as a sign of things to come and NGOs like the Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) welcomed the Chief Minister’s point of view. R. Chandra Prakash and Bhamy V. Shenoy of the MGP said they are sad that the Chief Minister is seen as over riding the decision of an elected body but are at the same time glad that a professional body will be vested with the responsibility of ensuring water supply to the city.
“Though the MCC cited the 74th amendment to the Constitution paving way for decentralised administration to justify its decision, the fact remains that MCC had failed to manage the systems efficiently and thus violated the true spirit of the constitutional amendment’’, said Mr. Shenoy.
The MGP has been campaigning for takeover of water supply by the KUWSDB as the city continued to suffer from unscientific distribution and frequent shortages despite flanked by two perennial rivers. “Attempt to ensure proper rehabilitation of water supply system through JNNURM funding has failed in the past five years. Tripartite agreement between MCC, KUWSDB and JUSCO has failed mainly due to lack of proper coordination, supervision and control”, according to the MGP. It also called for constituting a water regulatory authority to monitor the distribution of water supply and reduce inefficiencies. But the councillors want the government to approve the MCC’s resolution and allow it to maintain the supply for six months on an experimental basis.
