Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar called on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday to discuss government proposal to privatise the supply of water in the national capital. Calling the move unconstitutional, Justice Sachar said he was "totally against the idea of privatising what is a citizen's basic right".

Justice Sachar, as patron of the Water Privatisation-Commercialisation Resistance Committee, met Dikshit in her office. "The privatisation of water is unconstitutional since our Constitution gives each citizen a right to live, and water is among the most basic of needs to survive. I am against any idea to charge huge sums of money for water," Justice Sachar told reporters after the meeting.

Jalasaksharatha Mission-Kerala has demanded that the government abandon its move to form a company to distribute drinking water.

In a statement, the organisation’s Executive Director C.A. Vijayachandran, said the proposed company, to be formed on the model of Cochin International Airport Limited, would sell water based on profit.

Pune: The state government has disbursed Rs 413.98 crore so far to tackle the water scarcity situation in different parts of the state. Western Maharashtra and Marathwada are the worst affected regions in the state as they have received the lowest rainfall in the state during the last monsoon.

The government has allocated over Rs 400 crore to the department of water supply and the department of revenue, a senior secretary from the state revenue department said. “Besides, the government has given powers to the district collectors for spending up to Rs 2 crore as emergency funds. The funds are meant to ensure quick payment to water tankers, as many of them are privately owned.”

The Maha Kumbh Mela, considered the largest public gathering in the world, will be the subject of a case study at Harvard University, which will study the logistics and economics behind it and the “pop-up mega-city” that comes to life in Allahabad during the religious event.

A team of faculty and students from Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), School of Design, Harvard Business School, School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Global Health Institute would travel to Allahabad for the project 'Mapping India's Kumbh Mela'.

PUNE: Activists working in the field of water distribution under the LokabhimukhPaniDhoranSangharshManch (LPDSM) - a forum for pro-people policy on water, on Wednesday said that the special investi

Water to be collected and distributed only from licensed sources: Food Safety Commissioner

Commissioner of Food Safety Biju Prabhakar has issued a directive that henceforth, drinking water should be supplied in the State only in tanker lorries that have a Food Business Operator (FBO) licence under the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration) Regulations, 2011. He has also directed that all drinking water supply sources, other than the Kerala Water Authority, should possess an FBO licence, and water should be collected and distributed in the State only from such licensed sources. These sources should have certificates proving the safety and quality of water.

Not satisfied with the Delhi Jal Board’s explanation that private companies are being roped in to “enhance services and reduce non-revenue water”, a non-government organisation, Water Privatisation-Commercialisation Resistance Committee, has torn into the arguments and called for an open debate and discussion on the issue of initiating public private partnership programmes in the city.

The DJB has decided to initiate PPP programmes in three areas of the city to streamline distribution and revenue collection. The areas are Malviya Nagar, Vasant Vihar and Nangloi.

With elections to the Delhi Assembly due by the end of 2013, Delhi Chief Minister and Chairperson of Delhi Jal Board Sheila Dikshit has instructed the Delhi Jal Board not to increase the water tariff from January 1.

A statement issued by the Delhi Government said as per a decision of the Board taken on November 30, 2009, the revision was due from the first day of the New Year.