TN opposes Centre’s move to link grants with regulating tariff

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu government has questioned the Union government’s move to link the grants for water sector in states to water tariff regulation as recommended by 13^th Finance Commission.

Delivering the theme address during a seminar on Status of Functioning of Water Regulatory Authority in India organized by State Water Resources Management Agency here on Thursday, Public Works Department secretary M Sai Kumar said that the state is for efficient management of water but is totally against any move by the Centre to link grants by dictating terms on the level of tariffs to be raised.

“Raising water tariff will not reduce water consumption and there is no study to prove this,” he argued at the seminar which was attended by chief engineer of Central Water Commission chief engineer R K Gupta.

He said the move to raise water tariff will put the people further in distress rather than helping them. Kumar said the state government welcomes any move by Centre to help the state in efficient use of water management.

He also said the state has greater interaction with all the departments to conserve water and the state opposes water regulatory authority if its prime objective is to fix tariffs.

As per the recommendation of 13^th Finance Commission, water regulatory authority is mandated to regulate water tariff charges for surface and sub-surface water used for domestic, agriculture, industrial and other purposes besides to determine and regulate the distribution of entitlement for various categories of uses as within each category of use.

Gupta highlighted the need to conserve water and said that the Centre mooted the pricing of water as it would help in conservation and efficient use of water. He also stressed the need to think on changing the crop pattern due to erratic rainfall. He said that the demand for water from industries is likely to go up five times as such conservation is needed.

He also stressed the need for synergy between various departments which key to water conservation. R Subramanian, chairman Cauvery Technical Cell stressed on the need for drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation to conserve water.

S S Rajagopal, director of State Water Resources Management Agency (SWRMA) said that SWRMA is gathering all water related data including demand and supply and is putting them on a GIS based platform for better policing.

“The plan is to put the data on the web so that all the departments can make the best use of it,” he added. Currently, SWRMA has data of 89 dams including four reservoirs.