NEW DELHI: Coming out openly against moves for privatisation of the Delhi Jal Board by the Delhi Government, noted activist Aruna Roy on Thursday termed the privatisation exercise as an extraordinary story of mismanagement and lack of ethics shown by the World Bank. "Water is an essential commodity and it is something linked to the right to life that need to be maintained and run by the government and not private companies,'' she said.

Talking to media persons here, Ms. Roy, who is also a member of the National Advisory Council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, made public "secret documents'' on how tenders and other procedures were fudged, manipulated and changed under pressure from the World Bank on various occasions by the Delhi Jal Board and the Delhi Government.

Interestingly, Ms. Roy, who has been the big force behind the Right to Information movement, informed that all the information had been procured under the Act. The 4,000-odd page documents had been obtained by well known NGO, Parivartan, exposing the false claims of the Delhi Government and assertions by the Chief Minister that no privatisation of the water utility was in the offing. It was shocking that the Delhi Jal Board was not being run by the Chief Minister or the CEO, but the World Bank that was virtually dictating terms to the Government, she added.

Accompanied by the Parivartan representative, Arvind Kejriwal, and noted lawyer and rights activist, Prashant Bhushan, Ms. Roy said if water and power were to be managed by private companies then what was the need for having such a big bureaucracy set-up of IAS officers. "If the Government of the day is abdicating its responsibility then it should also disband the top-heavy bureaucratic set-up.

The power privatisation experience is an indication of what could be in store for consumers under the water privatisation process,'' he said.

Documents clearly show how arm-twisting was done to award a Rs. 7 crores consultancy contract to Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) in November 2001. PWC had lost out in the normal bidding process not once but thrice, but the World Bank arbitrarily intervened every time and finally got PWC the contract.

This was done despite strong protests by the Delhi Jal Board officials including the Additional CEO, Ranbir Singh.

Mr. Kejriwal pointed out that World Bank interference was not limited to ensuring that its favourite firms got the contracts. It was also setting the entire agenda for reforms.

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