Citizens’ forum pulls out of water project

Citizens’ forum pulls out of water project
Deccan Herald

Janaagraha, a citizen’s forum, has disassociated itself from the controversial Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project (GBWASP) project, meant to provide Cauvery water and underground drainage to the seven City Municipal Councils (CMCs) and Kengeri Town Municipal Council (TMC).

In a letter dated January 31, 2006 to Ms Shameem Banu, Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department, founders of Janaagraha, Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan, expressed their concern over the “increasing vocal demands to know how the urban poor will be covered in the GBWASP project and what the project would mean to them, both in terms of the kind of water supply options they will have, as well as the costs associated with these services.” The letter further stated that their request for citizen consultation on the issue of privatisation was not addressed till date.

Citizens’ role

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Swati Ramanathan said, “Janaagraha has consistently requested the government to frame an urban poor policy for water supply and chalk a detailed implementation plan for urban poor coverage in GBWASP. Unfortunately, the government has lagged behind in making clear their policies and approach in this regard. There is also a misplaced perception that Janaagraha is supporting privatisation of water, which will result in poor coverage for the poor and price hikes. Local councillors have asked us to clarify these issues, when the reality is that our role is limited to ensuring citizens’ participation in all decisions on the project,” said Swati.

MoU signed

In July 2005, the State government had signed an MoU with Janaagraha to bring in the citizens’ participation component into the Rs 345-crore water supply and sanitation project called Jalamitra. The CMCs include Dasarahalli, Byatrayanapura, Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli, Yelahanka, Krishnarajapuram and Rajarajeshwarinagar.