Fresh water usage charges not fixed since April 2022
*Research & policy framing remain out of focus
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 28: Constituted over a decade back, the Jammu and Kashmir Water Resources Regulatory Authority (J&K WRRA) never made public the report about its functioning although the same is mandated as per the provisions of J&K Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2010 and Rules made in the year 2011. Moreover, fresh water usage charges for different categories of users have not been fixed since April 2022.
The Section 187 of the J&K Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2010 states: “The Authority shall prepare once every year, in such form and at such time as may be prescribed, an annual report giving a summary of its activities during the previous year and copies of the report shall be forwarded to the Government. Moreover, a copy of the report shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is received, before the Legislature”.
Moreover, Rule 70 of Jammu and Kashmir Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Rules, 2011, read: “The Secretary or any other officer of the Authority duly authorized by the Authority in this behalf shall prepare in form- XIII the annual report on or before the 31st day of May following the financial year to which the report relates. After the approval by the Authority, the annual report shall be submitted to the Government by or before 31st of June”.
The Authority was established formally in October, 2012 and it became fully functional in 2015 as during three years there was no Chairperson and Members. However, till date the Authority has not ensured compliance of the provisions of the Act and Rules by not coming up with the annual report about its functioning, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
In the report, the Authority is supposed to highlight the number of meetings convened; activities during the year; number of schemes approved by the Authority; the number of complaints received and disposed by the Authority; tariff/water usage charges fixed by the Authority; measures recommended by the Authority for efficient use of water resources; number of disputes adjudicated upon by the Authority and the number and nature of reports of enquiry, if any, forwarded to the Government during the year.
Moreover, fresh water usage charges for different categories of users have not been fixed since April 30, 2022 when the validity of the earlier tariff came to an end.
In terms of Section 128 and Section 145(2) of the J&K Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2010, the Authority vide Order No 46/SWRRA of 2018 dated 28-06-2018, fixed the water usage charges for domestic, commercial, institutional, industrial purposes and filling of water tankers etc; irrigation purposes; extraction of ground water and usage. The order was valid from 01-04-2018 to 31-3-2021.
Thereafter, vide Order No.75/SWRRA of 2021, the Authority fixed the fresh water usage charges/tariff for different categories of users for the year 2021-22 effective from 01-04-2021 and the same was valid till 31-04-2022. Since then, no new tariff has been fixed by the Authority.
“Moreover, there is absolutely no focus on research and policy planning during the past several years despite the fact that Authority is supposed to do lot many work in this regard for the assistance of administrators and engineers in their day-to-day work pertaining to various activities and functions in the PHE and irrigation sectors”, sources said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Authority is supposed to determine the entitlement and distribution for various categories of use of water within each category and the terms and conditions of distribution or allocation; fix the priority for equitable distribution of water available at the resource, project, sub-basin and river basin levels during periods of scarcity; regulate use of water by the users and licensees from all water sources; advise the Government in the promotion of competition for the optimum utilization of water resources; administer and manage inter-State water resources apportionment on river systems and approve and review water resources schemes and projects etc.
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