The civic administration will soon visit residential societies to urge residents to implement rainwater harvesting technology. With the slow progress of the rainwater harvesting technology, the civic body will also plan hoardings, advertisements and awareness campaigns to advocate residents regarding the project.

A senior official said ward level officials would be asked to visit residential societies to explain and urge citizens to implement the rainwater harvesting scheme in their colonies.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 650 crore for the implementation of a comprehensive water supply scheme for Villupuram. Once this is completed, two municipalities, four town panchayats and five panchayat unions in Villupuram district will get sumptuous water supply, Commercial Taxes Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam has said.

Speaking at an official function held on the premises of the Government Girls' Higher Secondary School here recently, he said water would be tapped from the Kollidam for the new scheme

The Bharatiya Janata Party has questioned the rationale behind Delhi's three new municipal corporations' Commissioners expressing their views on the increase of parking rates in the Capital without taking into account that such a proposal cannot be implemented without the approval of the Corporations.

“How can the Municipal Commissioners just go out and say that the parking charges are headed north when such a proposal can only be implemented after it has been passed by the elected civic bodies?” asked Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta on Thursday.

Parking fees should go up, feel new MCD Commissioners

With the Master Plan for Delhi-2021 currently under review, the Delhi Development Authority should provide land to the Municipal Corporations to build parking facilities, said South Delhi Corporation Commissioner Manish Gupta on Wednesday. “We have sent a proposal to the DDA suggesting that it provide land for parking facilities when a colony is converted from a residential to a commercial area,” he said.

The parking charges in the city may see a rise as both the Delhi government and the commissioners of the new municipal bodies are mulling the same.

Delhiites may end up paying a parking fee of `50 for three hours during peak time if the recommendations of a special task force to decongest city’s streets are accepted by the Delhi government. The recommendations of the STF will be taken up for implementation after considering suggestions and objections from public.

Intense criticisms on the lackadaisical approach of the administration when it comes to tackling the drinking water crisis and sanitation issues dominated the proceedings in the Corporation council meeting held here on Monday.

“It is a pity that councillors are raising the issue of acute drinking water shortage in every meeting but no sincere effort been taken by the administration after promising corrective steps on the floor of the house.

The Haryana State Urban Water Policy for 2012 has been notified for prevention of wastage of water and for its conservation.

Senior officers of the Public Health Engineering Department said on Monday that the policy has been formulated in the context of the present scenario of high percentage of wastage of water through unmetered connections in urban areas which were being billed on flat rate basis.

Cities in India are dreaming of becoming New York and London but we seldom worry about as basic an issue as sewage and its disposal in our country. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has brought out a two-volume book titled Excreta Matters: Report on the State of India’s Environment to highlight how only 20 per cent of sewage is being treated in the country. Sunita Narain, director general, CSE, talks about the murky issue plaguing the water sources in this interview to Rashme Sehgal.

Collection and safe disposal of solid waste generated in municipal limits is still a daunting task for almost all municipalities in the district, due to poor implementation of solid waste management programme.

No concrete measures to segregate waste at collection point, shortage of sanitary workers, lack of awareness among people and lack of official attention – all add to the mounting issue.

Urban planners attached to an advocacy group on Panchayati Raj here on Monday called upon the Rajasthan Government to pay greater attention to the Centre's flagship scheme, Rajiv Awas Yojana, for providing affordable housing to slum dwellers in the cities. The focus of the Yojana is on according property rights to people living in slums.