Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court was not inclined to grant a stay on the Rs 7,390-crore drinking water supply project at Chief Minster N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s native district Chittoor.
A?division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar on Thursday directed the state government to file an affidavit to explain whether or not legislative approval was required for such schemes.
The bench was dealing with a public interest litigation filed by Telangana Rashtra Samiti legislator T. Harish Rao contending that the Cabinet had not approved the execution of the project.
The project was taken up by the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh to provide water from the Kandaleru dam to Tirupati, Tirumala, Chittoor, Madanapalle, Palamaner and Punganur towns and scores of villages.
Earlier, the state government has contended that the scheme had been approved by the Cabinet and placed the relevant note before the court.
The bench had expressed doubts over the genuineness of the note, and directed the chief secretary to file a sworn affidavit assuring the court that the note was original.
The chief secretary on Thursday filed the affidavit stating that the Cabinet note was original, and that there were no discrepancies.
Senior counsel D. Prakash Reddy, advancing arguments on behalf of Harish Rao, contended that the Constitution mandates that legislative approval should be taken for schemes for which resources from the Consolidate Fund are to be allocated.
He said that the state budget has allocated Rs 6,017 crore to provide water facility statewide, but the Chief Minister had decided to execute a single scheme with an outlay of Rs 7,390?crore. The government had also agreed to extend bank guarantee for the scheme.
The Chief Justice said that these aspects had better be raised in the floor of the Assembly or before the Comptroller and Auditor General, and not the court.
He said that the main concern of the court was whether any public interest was involved in it or not, and that it would not go into other aspects.
Prakash Reddy pointed out that the government was in a hurry to implement the project and was depriving other districts — especially the Nalgonda region that was affected by the presence
of fluoride in water of supply of protected water.
He said that a separate PIL was pending before this court with regard to fluoride-affected villages in Nalgonda district.
The Chief Justice advised the counsel to make a special mention at some other time; the court would hear the PIL on fluoride-affected villages.
He made it clear that the court would not grant any interim order at this stage and it would first ascertain the necessity for legislative approval for the scheme.
The bench told the government to file the affidavit by January 27, following which the petitioner would have to file his reply.
Next: Free water for slums is possible
Free water for slums is possible
Hyderabad: The Water Board can supply free water to all city slums and some other areas, if it gets power at domestic rates, stops the 30 per cent loss due to leakage, collects all dues, and gets its 25 per cent share of property tax from the GHMC.
“As per international standards, 135 litre of water is required per person per day. The Water Board provides just 80 litre a day per capita. And this amount declines in the summer,” said M. Padmanabh Reddy, the secretary of the Forum For Good Governance.
A study conducted by the Forum For Good Governance analysed the water supply in the city and said that if all the above measures are implemented and if leakage is prevented, the Board can generate profits.
The Water Board has said that it is incurring a loss of Rs 20 crore every month. About 30 per cent of the treated water gets wasted due to leakages. Of the eight lakh connection registered with the Water Board, only five lakh are paid for, creating a big gap between water supplied and billed.
“This 30 per cent loss if saved, can generate substantial revenue for the Water Board. The Discoms are treating water supply as a commercial activity and is charging double the domestic rates. If domestic rates are charged, the power bill will be just Rs 25 crore, instead of Rs 50 crore. In this way annually Rs 300 crore can be saved," Padmanabh Reddy explained.
He also said that there are huge dues from government departments ranging from Rs 200-800 crore. After all this, free supply of water to slums is not difficult.
“There are 1.5 lakh connections in slums. They pay Rs 151 a month. If water is given free to them, it will cost the Water Board Rs 2.26 crore a month. This can be easily recovered by recovering dues and preventing leakage,” he said.
Women from city slums will launch on a signature campaign to collect one lakh signatures and will submit it to the Chief Minister. “If a city like New Delhi can, Hyderabad too can. We are paying Rs 1 per kg of rice, and Rs 151 for water. Is this fair?”
