Water tariff in state among the lowest, should be revised

CM SUGGESTS A drinking water grid may help to take water from surplus areas to the scarcity hit ones

Water resources minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kiran Maheshwari has risen through the ranks. Having no political godfather, she cut a notch for herself in the party through sheer determination and hard work and is currently one of the 11 national vice presidents of the party.

The incumbent MLA from the Rajsamand assembly seat had made her political debut in 1994 councillor’s election from Udaipur. She was elected to the parliament in 2004 from her home district. She won the 2008 assembly polls from Rajsamand seat and repeated the feat in 2013.

Articulate, sharp and affable, the senior politician spoke to Urvashi Dev Rawal about her plans for the department and her stint in politics. Here are a few excerpts from the interview. As the water resources minister, you have a herculean task to meet demands from various quarters for a scare resource. How is the government going to meet this challenge?

Water scarcity is a big challenge for us. Of 243 blocks, only 25 blocks have secure ground water. Moreover, we have only 2-3 rivers that provide us surface water. We have 67 major projects with surface water at an estimated cost of `28,000 crore. In 2014-15 we completed 12 schemes and in 2015-16 we will complete another 12. So in five years we will complete all the 67 projects.

The chief minister has also suggested creating a drinking water grid through which we can take water from surplus areas to the scarcity hit ones. The 67 projects are based on that grid.

How do you plan to check water wastage?

We have to be strict with monitoring. For instance ground water harvesting is mandatory, but it is not being complied with. Similarly, there is no check on people using boring machines to extract ground water. People do not feel the cost of water so they waste it. The public health engineering department (PHED) collects just 17% as revenue against the total expenditure. This needs to change.

Water tariffs have not been revised for a long time. Is revision on the cards?

We should revise rates. Water rates in Rajasthan are among the lowest and have not been hiked since a long time. Of course, we have to provide drinking w a t e r a t cheap rates and in villages too we can’t hike rates much, but for all commercial use the rates should be substantially higher.

Rajasthan is hoping to attract industries in a big way. Won’t factories dry up state’s water sources?

We will have to provide water to industrial units. But if we provide them proper infrastructure, they won’t mind paying. If we plan properly and put in place measures, like water recycling and harvesting, there should not be any problem.

Has the department made any special preparations for the summer months?

From May 1, we have started control room, under superintending engineers (SE), in every district where people can lodge complaints related to. It will be the SE’s duty to ensure that the problem is taken care of. Moreover, the executive engineers and junior engineers will have to go to the field and check that the problems are fixed.

The government has not paid much heed to pollution of rivers. Water flowing in from Punjab in the Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojna (IGNP) has industrial waste, while several rivers are facing contamination from textile units. How do you plan to tackle this?

Water treatment plants will be put up at all these places to treat waste water before discharge. We will take action against them if they fail to curb it.

The general perception is that the BJP government is not delivering. How do you react to that?

In 65 years, governments have not been able to deliver basic services like water, electricity and roads. The previous Congress government in Rajasthan was a total failure. There was corruption during their regime, they made faulty policies and did not deliver. People compared that with the 2003-2008 BJP government, when we did good work, and brought us back with a massive mandate.

Everyone knows that last year we have been busy with a series of elections. Then after the elections, we had the Budget Session. Now development work will pick up and people will see results. Our chief minister Vasundhara Raje has been working hard since she assumed office and her efforts will not go in vain.

What steps have you taken to crackdown on the Dausa PHED scam?

We have taken action against all found guilty in the case. And we will carry out probes anywhere there are complaints. Till now engineers were not sending their budget allocation to the finance department. Now we will ensure that each scheme is sanctioned only after the budget is allocated so there is no scope for wrongdoing. The technical and accounts staff have been asked to sit together to ensure there are no leaks.