After urban water policy, Haryana comes up with rural water policy, forgets about industrial water policy

Note: Haryana Government had notified Haryana State Urban Water Policy for year 2012 for the prevention of the water wastage and also for its conservation in April 2012. What has changed since then. Policies are not laws. State's industrialization, urbanization and Special Economic Zones (SEZ) policies are is unsustainable. This policy needs change for dealing with water scarcity both in villages and cities.

The case of Gurgaon district reveals that the real problem lies somewhere else. Out of 34 SEZs earmarked for Haryana, 30 are in Gurgaon district. It has the largest number of 30 SEZs in the country. Banning of installation of tubewells in Gurgaon district is the step in the right direction.

But the setting up of the Gorakhpur Nuclear Power Plant in the Fatehabad district of the state is not neither the right step nor is it a step in the right direction. Farmers are campaigning against it. In a water scarce state the proposal of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to set up a 2,800-MW power plant at a cost of `13,000 crores is quite myopic. The core issue is: what is Haryana Government's Industrial Water Policy? How does it allow nuclear power plants that requires huge quantity of water.

Gopal Krishna
ToxicsWatch Alliance


Haryana formulates rural water policy

Chandigarh, June 27: The Haryana Government has formulated a rural water policy for the state for the year 2012 to save precious drinking water by preventing wastage due to unmetered connections and open taps.

A spokesman of the Public Health Engineering Department said that this policy has been formulated keeping in view the present scenario of wastage of water through unmetered connections provided to consumers in rural areas, which are being billed on a flat rate basis.

The policy reflects the resolve of the state Government to bring about conservation of water and prevent wastage and reduction in non-revenue water in rural areas of the state.

He said that under this policy individual household metered connections would be provided to 50 per cent of the rural population by the end of 12th Five-Year Plan.

Also, the consumers would be billed on the basis of volumetric consumption of water instead of flat rates, he added.

PTI
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/government-and-policy/article3577073.ece