Panel for single policy platform on water

The Veerappa Moily panel on administrative reforms has sought a single policy platform on water related matters.

The committee, which submitted its report recently to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has said that while the two major types of disasters - flood and drought - that hit the country are both related to water, four to five different ministries are making policy decisions on the same subject.

The report, dedicated to crisis management, blames this segmented policy attention towards water as a major impediment to making any progress in adopting long term and short term measures to prevent both disasters.

The report refers to the all powerful, autonomous Central Water Commission recommended by the National Commission for Integrated Water Resources Development Plan 1999 as a model to be adopted.

The commission had said that the "Central Water Commission should be restructured into a statutory high powered inter disciplinary commission with maximum autonomy to deal with policy and reforms, centre-state and inter-state issues, international aspects, legal, economic and financial issues, water productivity, conservation, environmental aspects, rehabilitation...''

The report points at the large number of policy platforms available for addressing the same issue.