The Hindu            26.12.2011

Metered, regular water supply in 96 city slums soon

Residents of 96 slums in Bangalore will soon have access to regular drinking water and a systematic underground drainage system.

Scaling up its AusAID Master Plan Project that was implemented between 2000 and 2002, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has now roped in four non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to mobilise community support for connecting the city's 362 slums with drinking water and sanitary lines.

The AusAID project had covered three slums of Cement Huts, Sudhamanagar and Chandranagar.

Being taken up as a slum development component under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded Cauvery II Stage IV Phase Project, this effort is to ensure that slum dwellers are not deprived of piped water and sanitation.

BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T. Venkataraju told The Hindu here on Sunday that inadequate services to the urban poor were posing a major challenge to the board in terms of unauthorised connections and related problems.

The NGOs were entrusted with the task of convincing the slum dwellers and mobilising their support for metered connections. The NGOs have completed conducting socio-economic and technical surveys in 96 slums under the first phase, he said.

“They are likely to submit a preliminary report in a day or two after which we will finalise and start the process of implementing the project in these 96 slums. While the house connections, including pipelines, accessories and water meters, will be provided free, the slum dwellers will have to pay for the quantity of water they use after the supply starts,” Mr. Venkataraju said.

He said that based on the NGOs report, the water board could even consider further subsidising water tariff for these communities. The supply will start soon after the completion of the Cauvery II Stage IV Phase Project, he said.

The four NGOs, Mythri Sarva Seva Samithi, Indian Community Development Service Society, New Entity for Social Action and Mahatma Gandhi Trust, were chosen from among 120 organisations through a tendering process, he said.

Survey

Chief Engineer (Cauvery) Narayan said that the job of the NGOs was to conduct a door-to-door survey to find out the socio-economic status of the family. “The survey is also to find out whether the family had access to safe drinking water, how much money they spent on water and whether they were ready to get metered connections installed at their doorstep,” he explained.

Quoting a recent study by CIVIC in 23 city slums, S. Harish Babu of Mythri Sarva Seva Samithi said that the study had revealed that collecting water was a major problem for slum dwellers. “Hence, individual connections will help,” he said.

Clarifying that the NGOs were not working for enhancing the water board's revenue by propagating metered connections, Mr. Babu said: “Our job is to explain to the residents the ground reality. We are even trying to persuade the board to fix a highly subsidised tariff slab for slum connections,” he added.

The Hindu             20.12.2011

A master plan of parking problems

CHAOS: The vehicles parking haphazard near Central Market in Mangalore on Monday. Photo: H.S.MANJUNATH

Minister for Urban Development, Law and Parliamentary Affairs S. Suresh Kumar at a press conference here on November 25, 2009 went on record that the builders of some commercial complexes and high-rise buildings in the city had made no provision for parking facility.

The space meant for parking, he went on, had been utilised for other purposes. As a result, vehicles were being parked on the road in front of such buildings.

Incidentally, it is the department headed by the same Minister which has now given green signal for regulations that could further aggravate the situation.

The Ministry has allowed taking up additional construction in the existing non-residential buildings (read as commercial) in the city without creating parking facility within the premises.

If owners of such buildings have not been able to provide parking facility, under the new regulations, they will have to pay prescribed fee to the Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) for constructing multi-level car parking (MLCP) facilities.

Such a provision had been incorporated in the zonal regulations of Master Plan II (the document that is expected to work as guide for the planned growth of the city). The plan is designed for Mangalore Local Planning Area revised by the MUDA for the second time. The Government notified the revised regulations on October 26, 2011. The MUDA is expected to use the fee amount for constructing multi-level car parking facility (MLCP) in the “vicinity”.

Objection

President of the Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti G. Hanumantha Kamath has taken objection to this stating that the provisions would only prompt more constructions without parking facility. This would aggravate the parking problem in the city, he said. “Then parking on roadside will increase. Who will park their vehicles away and then walk to the building?” he questioned.

In a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Urban Development, he sought deletion of this clause.

Mr. Suresh Kumar said in 2009 that the Government had been planning to build multi-level parking lots at 10 places in the city. One such structure would come up at Hampankatta.

“Where is the much hyped MLCP proposed to be built by MUDA at Hampankatta,” Mr. Kamath asked. No effort has been made to build MLCPs at other places in the city.

A senior official in the Town Planning section at the Mangalore City Corporation said the clauses in question were not feasible. Constructing MLCPs as mentioned in the clause was not a viable solution. The MUDA's proposal of building a MLCP at Hampankatta is now in cold storage, the official said. The official said that even though the clause had been added in the zonal regulation, the corporation would think twice before approving such proposals. The council of the MCC in its special meeting on December 12 recommended to the MUDA and the Government to drop Clause 19.9 as it would only aggravate parking problem in the city.

Mr. Kamath said the samiti did not endorse clause 19.8 in the regulations which allows builders of non-residential properties to provide parking elsewhere.

Purushotham Kottari, President, Mangalore Civil Contractors' Association, who did not endorse clause 19.9, said that clause 19.8 could be accepted if parking facility was created within 100 ft distance from a building and not beyond that.

P.M.A. Razak, president, Mangalore Chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), said that Clause 19.9 was not feasible. In the existing building, once its owner used the floor area ratio (FAR) available how can one take up additional construction, he asked.

Mr. Razak said that MLCPs were needed to de-congest the city of the traffic problem. It is the duty of the Government to build more MLCPs in the city. Vijay Vishnu Mayya, president, Association of Consulting Civil Engineers, Mangalore, said Clauses 19.8 and 19.9 were not practical. But there was need for MLCPs in the city.