Moving towards partial privatisation, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Wednesday concluded a two-day Jal Bhagidari workshop held to create awareness about the revamping of the water supply, transmission and distribution network under the Nangloi Water Treatment Plant. The water utility has also come out with a booklet to sensitise all stakeholders on the functioning of the public-private partnership model, which will be implemented in four project areas on a pilot basis. The areas include Malviya Nagar, Vasant Vihar and Nangloi underground reservoirs and water treatment plant, and Mehrauli.

New Delhi: Continuing uncertainty over the fate of numerous parking projects has become a cause of concern for not only vehicle users but also the city’s planners. While there are plans to raise parking fees in the city, only one of the 41 multi-level parking projects conceived by the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi has been made operational so far, and work on 24 is yet to start.

Lack of rainwater harvesting finishing many resources

A large water body at Dhulsiras village in South-West Delhi is an example of what a water body should not be. Littered with plastics and other refuse, moss-covered and encroached on all sides, this water body is also an example of poor management and utter neglect. “It was a fairly large water body but residents gradually began to fill it up and to create more space for their houses and cattle, and whatever remains of it today is used as a littering bin,” said Rakesh Kumar, a resident of a nearby village and a volunteer with non-government organisation Natural Heritage First.

New Delhi: The first woman chief executive officer that Delhi Jal Board has ever had, Debashree Mukherjee has taken over the reins of the organization just before it enters its critical summer period. This is also a time when several projects have just been flagged off and are expected to take a concrete shape in the coming months. The 1991-batch IAS officer, who has a degree in water and environment management, aims to bring about massive improvements in consumer services.

Depletion of groundwater and its increasing pollution could be leading to a silent, nationwide public health crisis as aquifers in many stretches across India are becoming unfit for drinking, according to the government’s own figures. Depletion of groundwater and its increasing pollution could be leading to a silent, nationwide public health crisis as aquifers in many stretches across India are becoming unfit for drinking, according to the government's own figures.

New Delhi: After a delay of some years, the controversial groundwater Bill is finally ready to be presented to the Delhi cabinet. Government sources say the draft is likely to be tabled in the monsoon session of the Delhi assembly and, if passed, will make groundwater a chargeable asset in the capital. The cess on extraction will be decided at a later stage when the final points of the Bill will be prepared before it is turned into law.

New Delhi: In another attempt to allay fears that its public-private partnership projects are a precursor to privatization of the water utility, Delhi Jal Board has said it has sufficient water to ensure 24-hour supply for a large part of the city but is losing much of it through theft or leakages. The PPP model will first curtail these losses, ensure a round-the-clock supply and full domestic coverage in the project areas.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Wednesday received an additional Rs 400 crore in its pocket, with eyes on big investments in constructing new and rehabilitating the existing sewerage network in the city. The Delhi government has approved a total budget outlay of Rs 3,800 crore for 2012-12 for the city’s water utility.

New Delhi: While the Central government is working on strengthening the existing Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine Prohibition Act,1993, seeking to ensure rehabilitation of those engaged in such dehumanizing labour, activists say that thousands of manhole workers continue to work in inhuman conditions. MCD, DJB and other civic bodies have failed to provide adequate safety gear and medical facilities and often pass the buck on to their contractors.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Union Ministry for Environment & Forests, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Delhi Jal Boad on a petition by a social activist alleging that the release of effluents from the Capital's sewage treatment plants into water bodies was polluting them as well the ground water making it hazardous for use.