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Ram Babu Sharma to head committee on Water Bill

Staff Reporter

The body would discuss the issue of imposing additional tax on sources of water

NEW DELHI: Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president and Rohtas Nagar MLA Ram Babu Sharma will head the Select Committee of the House constituted by the Delhi Assembly Speaker, Chaudhary Prem Singh, to study the controversial Delhi Water (Amendment) Bill, 2005, that brought into the open sharp divisions within the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) over the issue of imposing additional tax on various sources of water.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, also the chairperson Delhi Jal Board, has also been made a member of the Committee. The Committee is loaded with dissidents who could make things a bit difficult for the Chief Minister and also ensure that the Delhi Water (Amendment) Bill does not see the light of the day in its present form. The other members of the Select Committee are S.C. Vats, Bheesham Sharma, Shadi Ram, Tarvinder Singh Marwah, Vijay Jolly, Moti Lal Sodhi and Ramesh Bidhuri. The Delhi Assembly Secretary, Siddharth Rao, will be the secretary of the Select Committee and has been asked to submit its report to the House during the winter session scheduled for December.

Bill under fire

The Bill had come under fire from the ruling party as well as the Opposition for containing drastic provisions including giving powers to the officials of the Delhi Jal Board to break open the premises of consumers without any intimation or notice if they suspect misuse of hand pumps, ground water or related issues.

MLAs' threat

The ruling party MLAs had strongly opposed any move to impose additional tax on ground water and warned that if the Bill was tabled for discussion and subsequent passage in the Assembly, they would either abstain or vote against it.

Not willing to take up confrontation within the CLP and with the party, the Chief Minister had agreed to refer the matter to the Select Committee of the House after negotiations with Mr. Sharma and other senior leaders.

Now with Mr. Sharma heading the Select Committee, it is unlikely that the controversial Bill will be approved in its original form and would be taken up for discussion only after drastic changes in the its provisions.

Mr. Sharma has already made it clear that he is strongly against privatisation of Delhi Jal Board and this could set up another round of confrontation with Ms. Dikshit.

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