Water resources minister seeks law akin to RTI (Time of India 09 October 2011)

Abantika Ghosh, TNN Oct 9, 2011, 01.21AM IST
Tags: i) RTI Act ii) ministry of water resources
NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the recent standing committee recommendations about putting water on the Concurrent List if not the Union List, the ministry of water resources is looking at a national framework law on the lines of the RTI Act to ensure state compliance on water conservation and pricing.
"The matter (of putting water on the Concurrent List or the Union List) will be taken up by the group of ministers soon. Our stand is clear. We need some say in the matter as leaving it to states is serving nobody's purpose. It's a politically sensitive issue and electoral concerns mean that tough measures like pricing are seldom implemented. But evolving a political consensus might be equally difficult. That's why we are looking at a national framework law. Once we get it passed with support from two or more states, other states will have to adopt it," said a senior official in the ministry of water resources.
The standing committee in its report on the augmentation of ground water had recommended: "Taking note of the recurrent disputes between certain states and regions over water sharing, the Committee hardly need to underline the need for evolving national planning development, conservation, exploitation and distribution of water in an equitable and sustainable manner...The Committee would urge the government to initiate steps in right earnest to strive to build national consensus to bring water either in the Union list of the concurrent list after due consultation with state governments."
The panel has asked the ministry to initiate a draft proposal on this at the earliest.
Senior ministry officials say that efforts are on to have a law in place by the start of the 12th Five Year plan. The law would have provisions for setting up of a water authority in each state - much like the State Information Commission under the RTI Act - and tackle issues like water pricing, where each state now has adopted a separate regime.
Lack of Central powers in the matter has led the ambitious river linking project hanging fire for many years. The first project, Ken-Betwa, is stuck over the inundation threat to the Panna Tiger Reserve. While Madhya Pradesh has withdrawn consent to the Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal linking project, maintaining that it doesn't stand to benefit from it. "These are some of the things that would ease once there are more powers on water issues," said an official.