Smt. Shiela Dikshit, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Delhi addresses….
by staff correspondent
New Delhi
Delhi Jal Board, in association with ACORD has organized a two day “Jal Bhagidari-Workshop” on improvement and revamping of the existing Water Supply, Transmission and Distribution Network under the Nangloi Water Treatment Plant, on 22nd and 23rd May,2012 at the Delhi Secretariat Multipurpose Hall, New Delhi. The Resident Welfare Associations and staff working in the project area of the Nangloi Public Private Participation Project and officers of Delhi Jal Board attended the two day workshop.
Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Delhi and Chairperson Delhi Jal Board addressing the concluding session of the Workshop said, “DJB has taken steps to provide 24X7 water supply in the project area as has happened in other cities like Nagpur, Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga (which used to receive water once in five days) and in a number of other Asian and African cities”. She further said that Public Private Participation in the project is not privatization because Delhi Jal Board will continue to be owner of all assets and the responsibility for providing water services will continue with Delhi Jal Board. The payment to the private operator would be independent of consumer tariff, consumers would not be required to pay anything to operator-the operators payment shall be made by DJB. Tariff in the pilot project will also continue to be same as the rest of Delhi – therefore, this government will provide better services at no extra cost”.
Ms. Debashree Mukherjee, Chief Executive Officer, Delhi Jal Board gave a brief description of the project being launched in the Nangloi Water Treatment Plant command area covering the area of Mundka, Najafgarh, Mohan Garden and Prashant Vihar. Speaking on the occasion she said “the project will make available piped water supply, 24X7 at sufficient pressure at each and every house of the project area. All villages and unauthorized colonies will be provided house hold connections. Two new Underground Reservoirs will be constructed in Mundka and Najafgarh. More than 1200 kms of new distribution lines will also be laid. She further said that responsibility of service connections for consumers will be taken over by Delhi Jal Board in the project areas.
Ms. Mukherjee stated that in fact she has already received many requests from different parts of Delhi asking for similar PPP projects to be implemented in their areas.
Delhi Jal Board will constitute a Project Monitoring Committee consisting of area MLAs, RWAs, and Civil Society as members. The committee will suggest areas for maintenance/replacement of old/damaged pipeline to maintain quality and quantity of water supply. Identify areas and household where DJB water does not reaches. Update about any leakage of water for timely repair will also be taken up.
DJB will setup a Customer Care Centre for communication strategy to educate consumers to Reduce water wastage, do away with storages and booster pumps, discourage illegal connections and deliberate on equity issues.
Under the project continuous supply would save on the high coping costs such as water storage, tanks, booster pumps and the associated electricity charges. Through individual water connections, all consumers will be able to get water as per demand.
During the workshop, the RWA’s and DJB employees sought details about the project, which were satisfactorily answered. At the conclusion of the workshop, both RWA’s and DJB employees unanimously welcomed the project. The RWA’s particularly looked forwarded to receiving better services from Delhi Jal Board at no extra cost.
The project will ensure that consumers will be freed from buying low quality water at high cost from private sources and saved from adverse health impacts and treatment costs, etc. There shall be no change in tariffs of poor households and they will continue to benefit from subsidized tariff policy of DJB.
