Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jun 17, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Water Som Pal calls upon planners to focus on water management Our Bureau
SAVE OUR POOL! Parched throats, diminishing lake and pregnant monsoon clouds. Against this backdrop, experts from around the world gathered in Hyderabad on Monday to discuss ways of saving urban lakes.
HYDERABAD, June 16 LAMENTING the poor attention being paid by policy makers on issues related to water, Mr Som Pal, Member (water resources), Planning Commission, today said the Tenth Plan should focus on water. He asked Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, to wield his clout to make this happen. Delivering the Presidential address at the inaugural of the three-day `International Workshop on Urban Lakes - Conservation and Management' here today, Mr Som Pal said water had not been getting its due over the years in the country. The Ninth Plan allocations for water was a meagre Rs 1,955 crore as against communications which got Rs 92,000 crore. "For the Tenth Plan, the figures are Rs 3,600 crore and Rs 98,900 crore respectively," he said. The allocations for water were just enough to meet the salary bills of the 7,000-odd Central Water Commission engineers, he said. "Communications can wait but not water," he said. "Linking of rivers is necessary. But it will take a long time and needs Rs 5,60,000 crore. The huge project also involves several ecological issues. In the meanwhile, we have to take up some projects to meet the immediate demands," he said. Suggesting a plan for improvement of water resources, he said "by spending Rs 77,000 crore on 400 ongoing projects can help augment an additional 21.5 million hectares in just five to eight years. "A spend of Rs 24,500 crore on projects to recharge ground water can help irrigate 18-20 million hectares. And giving a subsidy of Rs 13,500 crore, forming a fourth of the estimated Rs 54,000 crore, as subsidy to States would benefit 24.5 million hectrares," he said. The Centre, States, external sources, and private parties chipping in equal amounts to support these projects. Stating that there is a `water divide' in the country, he said the per capita consumption of water in rural areas is 17 litres per day as against 287 litres in five metropolitan cities. "When you flush once in the toilet, 12-15 litres of water goes down the drain. This is the so-called civilised society!" Inaugurating the workshop, the Chief Minister said 1.2 billion people in the world do not have access to water."Water wars are in the offing," he warned. Referring to the point made by Mr Som Pal, the Chief Minister said he would bring pressure on the Centre to make it allocate more for water projects. Stating that the Government was aimed at increasing the State capital to 35 per cent from the present 21.5 per cent, he said his Government was keen to develop lakes across the State.
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