NEW DELHI: The Congress party's slogan "Congress ka haath garib ke saath'' is all set to take a beating, at least in the Capital, if the plans drawn up by the Delhi Jal Board for privatisation of the water utility are to be believed. With the DJB refusing to spell out the subsidy component under the private water management companies, fears are being raised about this section of society being the worst hit.

According to the voluminous reports submitted by the private consultants in close association with the World Bank for privatisation of the water sector in the Capital, people living in JJ clusters and other such areas of the city would not only be asked to shell out huge water bills but also their access to drinking water would become extremely difficult in view of the crackdown expected to be launched by the private companies targeting water sources from where these people get water. The impact of the reforms suggested by the World Bank would be borne mostly by the poor and the middle class, which is generally referred to as the "vote bank" of the Congress party.

"The party seems to be going back on its promise to protect the interests of the poor in the Capital. There is no concern or thinking for these neglected sections of society and this could negatively affect the fortunes of the Congress party in the electoral politics,'' a senior Minister remarked.

Presently, people living in JJ clusters get their water from public taps, water tankers, tube-wells or from leaking pipes. A vast majority of them are not a part of the formal water distribution network. According to a DJB policy, they cannot be given connections as they do not have the land tenure rights. So they have to depend on either `free' water (from stand posts or water tankers) or `illegal' water (from leaking pipelines). These sources of water are treated as a part of ``non-revenue water'' (NRW). Interestingly, the performance of private water companies would depend on their success in reducing the amount of NRW.

For its part, DJB has admitted that supplies through stand posts and tankers would be phased out, while extraction of groundwater through tube-wells would also be stopped and leakages would be plugged. However, experts say there is no definite plan laid down on how the people living in these areas would get water? The water utility says that group metered connections would be provided to the poor people. Under this scheme, a group of five families would be provided one connection. They could pull separate taps to their houses but would have one meter and would be collectively responsible to pay the bill. They would not be charged for new water connections and meter.

However, after going through the investment plans suggested in the reports of the consultants, there is no mention of any plan to extend water network to these areas.

It is feared that if their `illegal' and `free' sources of water were cut off without making legal arrangements for supplying them water, it could lead to social unrest. `The DJB states tariffs for the poor would be subsidised. When we queried how much would the `subsidised' tariff be, we did not get any answers from the water utility,'' remarked Arvind Kejriwal of the non-government organisation, Parivartan.

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