Indore: Suggestions pour for proposed 'Right to Water' law

Indore: From housewives to elderly citizens and experts among other important verticals of society, everyone is pouring in suggestions for proposed ‘Right to Water’ law leaving department awestruck by the momentum of recommendations that counts in double digits in a day.

A housewife from Indore recently gave suggestions to revive water sources and smartly manage water while a wheelchair-bound senior citizen visited volunteer services to public health engineering (PHE) department, the nodal agency to collect recommendations for drafting a legislation on Right to Water.

On July 10, Madhya Pradesh government in state budget proposed ‘Right to Water’ law aiming to ensure adequate supply and availability of water for every person.

PHE principal secretary Sanjay Kumar Shukla told TOI, “We are collecting suggestions coming to us from different walks of life. We are seeking expertise from specialists across the country to draft better law.”

The department is also receiving calls from enthusiastic citizens enquiring about the law and how it will be instrumental in handling water crisis that has engulfed most parts of the country.

A second meeting to discuss Right to Water is scheduled in last week of July.

Water Resource Management advisor Sudhindra Mohan Sharma said, “Provision, sustainability and water security are three areas government should focus on while drafting this law.”

Sharma said looking at the geology and hydro-geology of Indore and around and western MP as a whole, availability of water for round the year supply is a big challenge as several areas still do not receive water during summer for which sustainability of sources needs to be strengthened.

He added that in areas like Indore, where population density is much higher as compared to rest of the state, government must ensure water security measures with plans and water budgets being developed at gram panchayat, block and district levels.

Formulating The Roadmap

PHE department is working with IIT-Delhi to frame the law

Different mechanisms for groundwater recharging are being explored

Subsidized financial sustainability or no cost electricity to gram panchayats for water supply schemes

Infrastructure development for water supply needs to be taken up as preparatory measure