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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hit the road running on the first day at work on Monday, as the Arvind Kejriwal-headed government announced free water up to 20,000 litres a month to each household having metered connection, delivering one of its many poll promises. Transport Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj made another notable announcement that 5,500 new auto-rickshaws would ply in the national capital region (NCR).
This means each household in Delhi with a metered connection will get roughly 666 litres of water a day free of cost from January 1, 2014 onwards and 5,500 inter-state permits will be given to auto-rickshaws to ply from Delhi to suburbs such as Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad.
“All the domestic consumers having metered connection will get 20 kilo litres (20,000 litres) of water free of cost from January 1. We will not levy existing charges such as water cess and sewerage charge,” newly-appointed Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO Vijay Kumar told reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister Kejriwal on Monday. Kejriwal, who was unwell, had skipped office and held the meeting from his residence at Kaushambi in Ghaziabad.
Kumar said that those consuming water beyond 20,000 litres will be charged for the entire usage. The decision would be reviewed by the party after three months. However, Kejriwal clarified that the decision is not for just three months. ”It is wrongly being said that our decision is for 3 months. The decision is for good. But obviously financial calculations are for the balance Financial Year,” he tweeted. He added that according to estimates, the cost involved is Rs 160 crore per annum, which means Rs 40 crore for the remaining quarter (January-March) of 2013-14.
Kejriwal had said that if the party came to power, a decision on free water supply would be taken within 24 hours of assuming office. The party had promised in its manifesto that households using up to 700 litres of water a day would be given free water. It also promised transparency in the activities of the Jal Board. The party had on Saturday, soon after taking oath, removed then DJB CEO Debashree Mukherjee.
While welcoming the move, some said a lot more needed to be done. “This is a feasible move, no doubt about that. Now the party has to set up an institutional mechanism so that water is within the reach of those who do not get it right now,” said Himanshu Thakkar, co-ordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
Thakkar explained DJB has a capacity of 220 litres per capita and what AAP is promising is 140 litres of free water.
He, however, maintained this may take time to reach people who do not have a metered connection. Experts said this move will mean a subsidy burden on the Delhi government just under Rs 20 crore.
A DJB official said that according to rough estimates, there are 1.8 million households of a total three million households in Delhi which have a metered water connection. This means, around 60 per cent of the houses will benefit from this move.
Explaining the rationale behind the auto-rickshaw initiative, Bhardwaj said: “There are a lot of people who travel from Delhi to neighbouring cities such as Noida and Gurgaon but face difficulties due to lack of transportation and hence this decision was taken.”
He added the tariff would be a bit higher than what is charged in the national capital as the autos would have to pay toll tax. Bhardwaj also met people from auto unions and Indraprastha Gas Limited to discuss CNG prices. However, he said no decision was taken on the prices, which were raised in the capital a few days ago.
On Monday, two ministers took public transport to work: tourism minister Somnath Bharti took the Metro. Women and child development minister Rakhi Birla arrived at work in a shared auto. Kejriwal, who had not been keeping well, worked from home.
On the first day of the AAP government, the Delhi Secretariat witnessed some dramatic incidents as well. There was some skirmish as media persons were not allowed to enter the premises by the AAP. The party had called a press conference which witnessed a high drama after many media persons protested against such a restriction. Health minister Satyendra Jain was not allowed to speak until a clarification was given on this matter.
Later, Manish Sisodia, education, PWD and revenue minister, after a brief meeting with a few media people, said media persons would be allowed inside the office from Tuesday and an information officer would also be appointed.
As the doors of Delhi Secretariat office were thrown open to the ‘common man’, around 1,500 people visited the office on Monday, officials said.
