Single authority to end water woes in Shimla

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 22

To ensure equitable, efficient and sustainable water services to the state capital and its suburbs, the Cabinet today approved the creation of the Greater Shimla Water Supply and Sewerage Circle as a ring-fenced single authority under the local civic body.

The creation of the entity will help in building a financially viable and self-sustaining water utility under one single agency — the Shimla Municipal Corporation — and help tide over the shortage that the town is perennially plagued with. It will also fix responsibility as often the MC and the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department are engaged in a blame-game for water woes.

As of now, the MC and the IPH Department are jointly responsible for the water supply to the town and its suburbs. It was following the outbreak of jaundice last winter that the focus shifted to ensuring safe drinking water to residents along with proper disposal of sewage, lack of which resulted in contamination of Ashwani Khud water supply scheme.

“The recommendations and the functioning of the body will ensure that the water supply is handled in a thoroughly professional manner and more importantly utilising the funds,” said Anuradha Thakur, Secretary IPH, who has painstakingly prepared the blue print for ensuring quality water supply to the town.

The Technical Monitoring Committee of the circle will be headed by Chief Secretary and the Secretary (IPH) will be its member secretary. It will have two divisions dealing with water production, sewage treatment plants, water distribution, sewerage network, integrated services related to the supply of water and sewage disposal. An MoU will be signed between the state government and the MC.

Since water quality monitoring and surveillance is an important and critical task, the Corporation Health Officer (CHO) will be the in-charge of water quality monitoring and surveillance and shall control the water testing laboratories being transferred from the IPH Department to the MC. In order to ensure proper checks and balances, the CHO will directly report to the Commissioner, MC.

The ring-fenced single authority will ensure the opening of a separate bank account exclusively for water supply and sewerage-related activity, transfer of existing funds collected on account of water and sewerage charges to this account. Funds will not be diverted for any other purpose like payment of salaries of employees as is the case now. The Municipal Corporation, Shimla, shall have the autonomy and discretion in implementing their own tariff structure or those notified by the government, based on transparent accounting and auditing of their financial statements. About 25 to 30 per cent of the total water supply is estimated to be wasted through leakages in supply and distribution network. It is for this reason that despite having a total capacity of 61.88 MLD, only 36 MLD is being supplied.

Experts from the Asian Development Bank and World Bank were also consulted and the governments of West Bengal, Odisha and Maharashtra were consulted to know the institutional structures in different states and cities.