Bhagwan Das had migrated to Delhi a decade
ago and settled in what the Govt. calls an ‘unauthorised colony’ of Delhi near
Sangam Vihar. Today with wife and 3 children the migrant labour is a Rickshaw
puller with an income of nearly five thousand per month spends his earning like
this : he pays Rs. 800 jhuggi rent to a local neta, spends Rs two thousand five
hundred on ration from the open bazar, and one thousand eight hundred to
buy water per month.
And
Das is not alone, most of the residents of the 1639 unauthorised colonies of
the capital spend their earning in the same way, with no other facility such as
education for their children.
As
the Rio +20 starts today to discuss the environment and water issues,one may
wonder why people have to buy water from the contractor in a place like Delhi
where the government claim that they have double the amount of water what is
required for people residing in Delhi. World Health Organisation has set a
minimum consumption level at 120 liters per capita which is a far dream for
Delhi’s 90 percent population. Ironically The Lutyens Delhi consume 80 percent
of the total supply of water.
In
a press conference conducted by the Right to Water Campaign - the speakers
raised concerns about the need of an equal water distribution system.
Colin
Gonsalves,
a popular human rights lawyer expressed his concern on the lack of a Water
Security Act that ensures universal water distribution, in India.
Magsaysay
Award winner, Rajendra Singh, who was on a sit-in protest in Delhi till
Monday, questioned the intention of policy makers in India. Rajendra singh,
better known as ‘The water man - Jal Purush’ is known for restoring the
traditional water sources in Alwar district of Rajasthan, making the area self
dependent.
Himanshu
Thakkar,
a noted water researcher and campaigner, found major loopholes in the
National Water Policy 2012 and demanded a citizen and climate friendly
water policy. He said that “the crisis portrayed by the government is
artificial”.
Kavita
Krushnan,
leader of CPIML - Liberation, claimed that the “government is blindly following
the conditions of World Bank and IMF without considering citizen’s concerns.”
Azad, a full time
activist with slum dwellers in Delhi, civic facilities for the slum dwellers
including water, said that “it is a shame that after 65 years of Independence
people have to buy water from the mafia and Jal Board is hardly concerned about
water problem faced by the poor people.”
The Right to Water Campaign believes that it is not surprising
that the Union Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal gave a statement in
the Parliament on May 7, 2012 stating, "In the new proposed water
policy, we have taken care to emphasize that the State should be encouraged to
go in for public private partnership…public private partnership does not mean
that you are privatizing the water sector. We are not privatising the water
sector."
He even mentioned names of cities like Tirpur, Salt Lake
Kolkata, Chennai, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Latoor,
Mysore, Haldia, Dewas, Khandwa, Shivpuri, Raipur, Kolhapur, etc. He argued
"So many places for one purpose or the other public private partnership
model has been utilised, and it would be the policy of the Government to
encourage that."
Bansal's statement in the Parliament misrepresents the facts and
misleads the parliament and people as well. The cities which were mentioned by
the minister are cases of failed PPP projects. Votaries of privatisation argue
that they are not privatizing water, but only involving private parties in
managing it. The fact is no private operator undertakes a project unless it is
assured of its raw material i.e. water.
We
conducted a study in Delhi and found how the PPP business deprives people
of their fundamental right to water. We filed a few RTI applications and
with that thread researched the PPP moves by the Delhi government and the
findings are shocking. The Delhi government is about to start three
PPP projects in three areas namely Malviya Nagar, Vasant Vihar and Nangloi.Each
project will cost 173 crore (1730 million INR) where water distribution system
will be privatised in phases.
For
more details, Contact : Kiran Shaheen at +91 98180 65092
or
alternatively write to
righttowatercampaign@gmail.com
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