The reality of Delhi on water front ! Thanks Daily Mail.

Lakes left high and dry: Study finds Delhi has lost over 190 of its 611 water bodies... and is doing nothing to save the rest 

By SHIBAJI ROYCHOUDHURY

Dry and dirty - the Capital's water bodies are dying. With encroachments, sewage and concrete constructions all over them, these reservoirs portray yet another picture of ineptitude in the government and its agencies. 

Of the 611 water bodies in the Capital, 274 have already dried up, while the remaining 337 that still have water are in a terrible condition.

But the DDA, MCD, block development officers and Delhi Jal Board are in a deep slumber even as the city grapples with water shortage year after year.

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The stench of apathy and greed is hovering all over these reservoirs. Rather than doing the needful to boost the eco-system and water table in Delhi, the MCD and DDA are busy minting money by selling the dry water bodies to private companies, allowing them to build on the land.

In the process, the Capital has lost over 190 water bodies forever as they cannot be revived, according to a survey released by the Delhi Parks and Gardens Society (DPGS) that works under the Delhi government's department of environment. 

The stark reality hits hard when a count is taken. Of the 54 water bodies in Delhi's east zone, 18 are dry and 21 have been encroached upon. In the south, 44 have been encroached upon out of total 120. Furthermore, eight water bodies are polluted by the sewage. 

Only the Central district can boast of a large number of water bodies that have been developed and have a permanent flow. Hauz Khas, the once beautiful reservoir in south Delhi, is covered with algae now. With garbage dumped at places around it, one cannot escape the foul smell that fills the air. 

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Most lakes in Delhi are rapidly turning into sewage ponds. Rather than doing the needful, various agencies are selling the dry water bodies to private companies

Bhalaswa Lake in the north has turned into a sewage pond. 

Neela Hauz Lake in the south and Sanjay Lake in the east are going the same way. 

The Kakkadooma Lake in the north, which used to recharge ground water, has been converted into the Ambedkar Park. 

Not surprisingly, environmentalists have raised their voices about the gradual loss of water bodies, which are essential to maintain the groundwater levels. 

"Water bodies are part of the natural water chain on which an entire ecosystem is dependent. Once these natural catchments and reservoirs are destroyed, the chain is broken," said Ravi Agrawal, director of Toxics Link, an NGO.

"Water bodies also contribute to keeping up a healthy groundwater table that has come under serious threat in the Capital. Delhi is already grappling with a serious water shortage," he added. 

Between 1997 and 1998, a total of 21 water bodies had disappeared from the map of Delhi. Most of these were lakes, according to Ritu Singh, a scientist at the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). 

Plans to revive some of them never really took off. The DPGS took over two years to compile the list of water bodies under various agencies before conducting a survey to find out the current status of these reservoirs. 

"It was a tough process as we had to gather data from all the agencies. But now that we have an overall idea, we can formulate a plan. For instance, those that have become dry need greening around them for rejuvenation," said S.D. Singh, chief executive officer of the agency.

However, there seems to be no clear picture about the number of water bodies in the Capital.

"The Delhi High Court has over the years got several committees to short-list the total number of water bodies in the Capital. But most of them came up with different numbers," said Vinod Kumar Jain, who founded the NGO Tapas in 1996, and has been working towards saving the water bodies in and around Delhi. 

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From picturesque lake to dust bowl

By Ajay Kumar in Faridabad

It is impossible to imagine that what is now only a dry terrain in Faridabad was once the fascinating Badkhal Lake. But this is the reality, and it seems the Haryana government agencies are not bothered about it, even as environmentalists have flagged the condition of the water body. 

And not just Badkhal, the situation is equally grim for the Surajkund Lake which too, has dried up. It's a bleak story in Faridabad that has been hovering for the last 10 years, leading to gradual depletion of the water table.

Spread over three km, Badkhal Lake is now fully dependent on rainwater. But with sparse rainfall, the lake doesn't hold water round the year. 

And the government's apathy isn't helping either: besides impacting the local eco-system, tourism has been hit badly. Jakir Housain, a guide at Badkhal Lake, said tourists are no longer visiting the lake. 

A decade ago, the lake had a source of water from Baniya Khan area in the Aravalli Hills. But over the years, flow in the water channels has been disrupted due to digging. 

"Our tourism business has been severely affected. Only few tourists have been coming to this place for horse or camel riding. We had got a contract for `40,000 to run the business in the lake area, but we hardly earn anything," said another tourist guide, Javed Khan. 

The situation in Surajkund is slightly different. Though it has been dry for many years, the place now attracts visitors for cultural activities.

with thanks : Daily Mail : LINK

Letter to Hon'ble LG of Delhi : Regular meetings at the DC office

Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Delhi

Raj Niwas: 6- Raj Niwas Marg,

Civil Lines, Delhi-110054 

Sub. : Regular meetings at the DC office

Dear Sir,

 

Under the Bhagidari scheme, we the RWAs of Delhi were regularly invited by the DC office, for a meeting with Area SDM, to look into the local issues.

 

But seems that BHAGIDARI scheme is no more into existence & therefore, we don’t think, that, they have any such instructions to call similar meetings.

 

May we request you to please look into it & instruct the concerned authorities to regularly call a meeting with local RWAs so that our civic issues could continuously be resolved, as earlier.

 

With best regards,

 

B S Vohra

Voice of Delhi – A group of RWAs & like minded persons

East Delhi RWAs Joint Front – Federation

Krishna Nagar Welfare Society

www.RWABhagidari.com

www.RWABhagidari.blogspot.in

Letter to Hon'ble LG of Delhi : Not to Discontinue the “Life Line Water Scheme” provided by the previous government in Delhi.

National Platform Against Water Privatisation (NPAWP)

Citizen’s Front for Water Democracy (CFWD)

To                                                                                                                    28^th February 2014

Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Delhi

Raj Niwas: 6- Raj Niwas Marg,

Civil Lines, Delhi-110054                                   

                                                                                   

Subject:   Not to Discontinue the “Life Line Water Scheme” provided by the

                 previous government in Delhi.

Dear Sir,

We are quite disappointed to know through mainstream media that the “free of cost lifeline water scheme” started by the previous government in Delhi is at the threat of being discontinued from the next financial year (2014-15) starting from 1^st of April. Under the scheme, people with metered connections are entitled to free water of up to 20,000 litres (20 Kl)per month.

It is quite strange that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has put forward its demand to continue this scheme to the Central Government but the latter decided to do away with this subsidy in the Interim Budget for 2014-15. This indicate a thinly disguised attempt by the Central government to help the private water operators and to push the water privatization in Delhi which got impacted with the pronouncement of the free water scheme in Delhi. If this pro-public and environment friendly scheme be reversed; this will be a big blow to the fundamental human rights of the people for access to safe water as well as a big setback to the much-needed positive steps towards conservation of water through the lifeline water scheme.

Unfortunately, this disturbing news has come despite a clear direction from your office, after the review meeting with the Jal Board as well as Delhi governmental officials, where you clearly expressed that “none of the decision of the former government will be scrapped, including the scheme to provide 667 litres of free water daily for domestic consumption to each household having a meter. You also asked the officials to ensure that the scheme reaches its intended beneficiaries and is not misused by unscrupulous elements”. 

The CFWD and NPAWP have, time and again, demanded for supply of a minimum quantity of free of cost lifeline water to the citizens of India, particularly to the people of Delhi. In the Peoples Water Manifesto prepared by us just before the Assembly Election in five states in November – December 2013, we urged all the key political parties to give their commitment

to provide minimum quantity of free of cost potable water to each family member in those states in order to ensure water security along with the food security under the National Food Security Act 2013. We firmly believe that food security can’t be achieved without ensuring water security. Besides that we had also demanded for the setting up of a network of Piaos (Water kiosk) and public stand posts in different locations to restore the traditional service of free water supply to the people, especially the poor, homeless and other destitute communities on the roads or in jhuggi jhopries, as well as for passerby on the roads.

On 30^th December 2013, the former government in Delhi made an unprecedented decision for supplying 20 Kilo-liters (KL) of “life line water” per family per month to each household ‘free of cost’.  We sincerely  believe that  this scheme would bring  multifold  benefits to water consumers in Delhi by ensuring their right to water besides promoting water conservation through reduction of water consumption by consumers in order to avail the benefit. This scheme would encourage DJB consumers to use precious water resource more cautiously and judiciously because every drop of piped water would count. In this age of high inflation and super increased water tariff, every household would try their best to conserve this important resource to keep their consumption below 20Kl to save money on their water bill. This may result in managing our existing water supplies more efficiently and it may also help to ensure better water supplies to water deficit areas in the city. However, if they fail to do so, the consumers would not only be deprived off the subsidy but would have to cough up much more even if they exceed their water usage by a liter and would come under the bracket of 21 Kl. This will also encourage non-metered consumers to get water meters installed to avail this benefit, thus would encourage better management and auditing of water supply in Delhi.

The ‘Lifeline Water Scheme’ will be a breakthrough for water conservation in Delhi. It would achieve what the previous governments failed to achieve even by spending crores of rupees to create awareness on water saving and water conservation through awareness drives and advertisements. We hope that this scheme will bring in incredible results on water saving through people’s self-governance on water use to avail this scheme. It is difficult to imagine how much water would be saved but the saved water would be lifeline for those who are not getting DJB water at present and can be supplied to water deficit areas.

We therefore sincerely urge you to please don’t discontinue the lifeline water scheme in Delhi in order to guarantee fundamental human rights to water and to ensure water security to the people of Delhi.

Yours’ sincerely,

SA Naqvi                                                                                                                 

Convenor, CFWD

National Coordinator, NPAWP

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Suggestions on Draft Power Regulatory Accounts

The Secretary, DERC,

Viniyamak Bhawan,’C Block'

Shivalik, Malvya Nagar,

New Delhi-110024.

Madam,

Subject: STOP DERC (Power Regulatory Accounting) Regulations 2014.

Ref:  Public Notice dated NIL, Ref. NIL issued by Secretary on draft Regulations.

DERC has miserably  failed to safeguard the interests of Consumers,be that in Tariff fixation, ensuring Performance Standards or in representing the Consumers in Courts and Tribunals. DERC’s Credibility is at stake because  of Public having Political Appointees as members who have allowed DISCOMS and the Ruling Elite to Dictate terms in Detriment to Consumer Interest.  

Having admitted in the High Court that DERC lacks the Competence and Infrastructure to Audit DISCOM accounts, we fail to understand why has DERC suddenly woken up to the need of Power Regulatory Accounting Regulation 2014 at an enormous cost to the Consumers and Exchequer, not to mention accommodating more favorites in cozy Post Retirement Berths.

Unfortunately while putting the Draft Regulations for comments by general public at large, DERC has not stated what is the objective of introduction of these Regulations and under which Regulation it has been authorised  to introduce such Regulations. Unfortunately DERC has all along violated the provisions of Electricity Act, 2003, National Electricity Policy, 2005 and National Tariff Policy 2006.

It is our apprehension that the DERC shall conveniently use the Regulatory Accounts for fixing Tariffs and wash off its hands. The Commission is yet to respond on our queries  and suggestions forwarded on 31-01-2014, wherein we had highlighted that the DISCOMS have furnished different Financial DATA at the time of submitting ARR and the Balance Sheet that was filed with the Registrar of Companies. Therefore, our apprehension is based on the past conduct of the DERC.

We have seen how the Meter Testing IS Codes were framed so that the Cheating due to Fast Running Meters cannot be detected while framing procedures that did not account for RESIDUAL BACK FLOW, explains the Trust Deficit amongst the Consumers.

The existing independent bodies like CAG and others are performing their job and have public faith, therefore I register my protest with the following observations ……

1.    It is a matter of surprise to note that the Delhi Govt. issued a notice for CAG audit on the accounts of Private Distribution Company on 07-01-2014 & various forces has been acting against the audit of CAG. One of the actions towards it may be the making of DERC (Power Regulatory Accounting) Regulations 2014. The time of making the Regulations make the suspicion in the minds of stake holders as these Regulations will provide hurdles in CAG Audit to the private DISCOMs. The Regulations will enable the DISCOMs to do away with the Government Audit like CAG, as the CAG will not abide by the terms of references made by the DERC. However when the terms of references by way of the regulations will be made, the audit is to be carried out as per the Regulations only.

2.    There are several Indian and International Laws, procedures & principles under which the accounting procedures are guided. Therefore the accounts of the firms or corporations are guided by those principals & laws. Therefore a separate set of accounting procedure Regulations were not necessary on the interest of accounting procedure.

3.    The draft regulations have certain shortcomings, such as verification of physical assets for capitalization of asset. Physical verification of capital asset is very important in the capital based tariff. Making “Power Accounting Regulations” shall provide DISCOMs & other companies for coverage of such manipulations under the various provisions of proposed “Power Regulatory Accounts” Regulations. Therefore the draft regulations in the present form is  to be repealed. 

4.  In regard to the capitalization & physical verification of asset, DERC during prudence check for the year 2002-03 to 2006-07, it was found that the private DISCOMs of BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. (BRPL) & BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) both purchase capital goods from their sister concerns M/s REL, more than 68.5% above the market rate and capitalized through the audited accounts.  The replies filed by BRPL & BYPL were found by the Commission far from satisfactory. However DERC undertook action of their own & found that BRPL & BYPL could not provide satisfactory answers for escalated capital infusion.  The Commission by its own wisdom and prudence check found out that the prices were shown to be escalated which were shown in the Audited financial accounts. Had there been the DERC (Power regulatory Accounting) in this present draft form, the Commission could not be able to go about as they did on this occasion. 

5.    There are several orders from the Higher Courts, where it opines that statutory Regulations formed by the Appropriate Authority (in this case DERC) is not a executive instruction but it is always by legislature & it desires sanction from legislative power vested in the legislature. DERC a statutory authority frame Regulations & issue notifications could not refuse to follow the Regulations in its application in any given situations.  A statutory rule or Regulation or Notification shall be treated for all purposes of construction of objection exactly as if they are the Act & are to be of the same effects as if contained in the Act. Therefore once these Regulations are made for Power regulatory Accounting will supersede all the other accounting rules and procedure as followed in accounting procedure.

6.    Tariff regulations are made U/S 61 of the EA 2003. The Principles of Tariff Regulations for determination of Tariff is based on encourage competition, efficiency, and economical usage of resources, good performance and optimum investments. In a private monopoly market environment of distribution of electricity in Delhi where the prices are not determined under competition, the proposed draft “Power Regulatory Accounting” is against the consumer interest as the said draft not in consonance with the existing Tariff Regulations of DERC and defeat the purpose of Tariff determined principles as envisages by the law.

7.    Tariff is determined U/S 62 and 64 of the E/A 2003. The truing up of the accounts of the DISCOMs of past period by the Commission with prudence check is another important aspect for determination of tariff with participation of all the stake holders. It is apprehended that by way of making this ‘Power Regulatory Accounting’ all the illegal and manipulated accounts can be legalized by making law to accept the annual audited accounts of DISCOMs. This will defeat the main objective of transparency which is the prime goal of Power Sector Reform.

8.    From the earlier experiences and the way the private DISCOMs manipulated their Annual Financial audited accounts, it is apprehended that the proposed draft “Power, Accounting Regulation” shall further provide the approval of the commission for manipulation of their accounts which they have been doing for all the years. The draft Regulations proposes all materials on records and the formats of Tariff are to be submitted as per their annual financial audited statement and therefore there would be very little scope for further prudence check of the formats of the DISCOM to be submitted as per the proposed Regulation. Therefore the proposed draft Regulation would take away the power of prudence check during true up process by the commission.

9. The private DISCOMs has been undergoing CAG audit. CAG while doing their audit is governed and guided by their own laws, rules, and Regulations, independent to any other agencies. The proposed “power Regulatory Accounting” will be another hurdle to carry out CAG audit in the private DISCOMs. CAG carry out their audit according to their own terms of references independent to any other terms, rules, Regulations of any Organizations. Considering the importance and necessity of CAG audit in Private DISCOMs the proposed draft “Power Accounting Regulations” proposed by Hon’ble Commission is to be called back.

10. After repeated demand and prayer by the consumers of Delhi before the Commission the Govt. of Delhi recently agreed an ordered recently for CAG audit for the accounts of the Private DISCOMs and currently the CAG audit is under progress. However private DISCOMs went to the higher courts i.e., High Court of Delhi and the Apex Court to get rid of the CAG audit fearing all their manipulations in their audited accounts will be caught. The private DISCOMs applied for stay order in the CAG audit in different courts. The proposed “Power Accounting Regulations” of DERC will strengthen the hands of Private DISCOMs to avoid CAG audit. The Private DISCOMs who has been very much expert in manipulation of financial accounts will get another opportunity and weapon by way of these Draft Regulations for pleading before the Higher Courts to get relief of the CAG audit. Therefore for the interest of the consumers and the public as a whole the proposed Draft Regulation may be called back by the Hon’ble Commission.

11. It is also surprised to note that these Accounting Regulations” has been proposed by Hon’ble Commission just after the CAG audit was ordered by the Delhi Government into the accounts of Private DISCOMs. The capital based Tariff of the DISCOMs, the physical verification of asset and truing up of capital expenditures is the most important criteria which could not be performed by the Hon’ble Commission since the privatization of erstwhile DVB the reason best known to the Hon’ble Commission. Under the above circumstances the proposed regulations will regularize all illegal and manipulations made into the accounts of Private DISCOMs since 2002-03 onwards. Therefore this is apprehended that certain forces are acting in favour of the DISCOM to derail the process of CAG audit currently undergoing in the private DISCOMs.

12. It is prayed before the Hon’ble Commission that the proposed draft Regulation may be called back for the interest of making the proposed Regulations more effective after getting the necessary input and observation of the CAG audit currently undergoing into the audit of Private DISCOMs. The input provided by CAG for strengthening the accounting system and prudence check of the Private DISCOMs may also be taken care of by incorporating those inputs in the present draft Regulations. This will be for the best interest of the consumers and also to the power sector reform as a whole.

13. Under the above circumstances it is suggested that the Commission to call back the proposed DERC (Power Regulatory Accounting) Regulation 2014 in the interest of the Electricity Consumers of Delhi.                                                                   

This is without prejudice to any other submission that may be submitted at a later date.

Rajiv Kakria

Govt spends Rs 3.65 to deliver Rs 1-worth food; 57% of subsidized food doesn't reach beneficiaries

NEW DELHI: The government spends Rs 3.65 to deliver Re 1 of food while 57% of subsidized food grains do not reach the intended beneficiaries. These startling findings by the Independent Evaluation Office point to massive corruption and pilferages in the existing public distribution system. 

The agency's initial findings reveals that close to 36% of food grains are siphoned off in the supply chain, raising a serious question mark over effective implementation of UPA government's "game-changer" food security scheme which heavily depend on existing PDS network. 

The agency has also found that corruption is less in the states such as Tamil Nadu where the PDS has been made universal. 

The first task of the government's newly constituted independent evaluator was to study the effectiveness of the public distribution system (PDS). 

The agency's first director general Ajay Chhibber said, "India can be a great economic power but must fix its Achilles Heel—which is better delivery of quality public services." 

During his job as evaluator so far, Chhibber had told TOI that he has found that bureaucracy is a big problem with lack of coordination between ministries. 

The former UN official claimed India could bounce back at 6.5% economic growth if bureaucratic bottlenecks are removed, adding that "administrative reasons" account for 1.5 percentage point dip in country's growth trajectory. 

He argued that ineffective spending on government big-ticket social sector schemes had its bad impact on the economy. 

Chhibber found that the incentive structure of social sector schemes, including PDS, needs to be looked at as it is ill-thought-out. 

He has said in the existing PDS, it has been seen that as the ration shop owners fail to make enough money by selling grains to beneficiaries they are tempted to sell outside. 

Apart from PDS, the agency is looking at the whole issue of movement of grain from the purchase centre to the consumer. "Eventually, we will also look at the Food Corporation of India and its operations, as well as the open-ended grain procurement policy," he said. 

The independent evaluator would also focus on outcomes to ensure government schemes become more effective and accountable. Today, the government schemes are more target-oriented and not outcome oriented, Chhibber said. 

The role of the agency assumes significance as the UPA government had budgeted around Rs 2 lakh crore on its flagship programmes in 2013-14. 

The evaluator will submit its final report on the public distribution system and maternal mortality in the next 3-4 months, Chhibber said after the formal launch of the IEO. 

The agency has also been asked to work on evaluating rural health outcomes and an insurance scheme handled by ministry of labour. 

with thanks : TIMES OF INDIA : LINK

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HT Delhi

HT Delhi

Don't cover storm water drains : Green committee : Hindustan Times

Delhi high court to hear discoms before RWAs, NGOs

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday said it would first decide the plea seeking an audit of accounts of Delhi's three private discoms by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India before dealing with other matters on the subject. It was hearing a PIL filed by NGO United RWAs Joint Action (URJA) seeking a CBI or independent probe into alleged irregularities committed by them as well as a CAG audit of their accounts. 

The PIL has said the then state government had given into pressure from the companies which sought a hike in tariff by faking losses and failed to fix the tariff for 2010-11. "We will go by the order dated August 24, 2011, and will deal with that limited issue (of CAG audit) first," a bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Jayant Nath said and fixed the matter for hearing on March 20. 

The high court had, on August 24, 2011, said, "...the issue that requires to be dwelt upon and addressed is the jurisdiction of CAG in respect of the said companies. It is further canvassed by them the same has to be tested on the anvil of the Constitution of India and the CAG Act, 1971. That apart, it is urged by them (discoms) once there has been a privatization of the electricity companies, they are not covered by the aforesaid Act. Issue notice on the question of admission. Regard being had to the limited lis (litigation) that has emerged before us, we would like the respondents (discoms and others) to file their respective counter affidavits only in this regard...," the bench said. 

During the hearing, Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, said, "This a very important public issue and this needs to be settled." "Of course, we will settle it for you," the bench said and enquired about the status of the appeals filed by discoms against a single-judge bench order refusing to stay the Aam Aadmi Party-led government's decision asking CAG to audit their accounts. The appeals were listed before another bench, Bhushan said. 

Three private discoms had filed appeals before a larger bench of the high court against a single judge bench order that had refused to stay the government's decision on CAG audit. The single judge bench had on January 24 not only refused to stall the CAG audit of discoms but also asked them to cooperate with the top auditor by furnishing the details sought.

with thanks : Times of India : LINK