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JUSCO & 24x7 Water Supply

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Written By pdk - 22 June, 2010

Water Mysore Analysis outsourcing water supply JUSCO

There have been discussions here on JUSCO getting the Mysore contract. 24x7 supply has been noted as a major change that this contract will achieve. Now, JUSCO has been managing the water supply in Jamshedpur. Jamshedpur is also known as just "Tata", which is not surprising since the city was founded around the Tata Iron and Steel Works factory there.

  Strangely, JUSCO doesn't provide 24x7 water supply at Jamshedpur in the areas under its responsibility. It just provides 6 hours daily and only to 74% of the population in its area of responsibility. So it seems a bit puzzling as to how we are looking to 24x7 water supply in Mysore under the same JUSCO. What is different? Some facts about the JUSCO water supply in Jamshedpur (link : www.adb.org/water/Indicators/benchmarking/jamshedpur-utility.pdf):

  • Supplies water to Jamshedpur with a population of 615,500
  • Only 335 connections metered, rest pay flat rate average bill Rs 81 per house connection
  • Water supply is for 6 hours a day only, restricted to 74% of the population in its area of responsibility
  • One month for new connection
  • No water supply for urban poor - supplied from 552 public stand posts
  • Outside the network, borewells with hand pumps provide water

Another, though not so surprising, aspect is that JUSCO operates in Jampot at an annual deficity of Rs 50 crores. This deficit is covered by Tata Steel. Water is free for Tata Steel employees! (link : http://www.ccsindia.org/interns2006/the customer citizen - sharbani.pdf)

Interesting.

COMMENTS

Undoing of a well-conceived scheme

murali772 - 5 June, 2015 - 11:59

The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Council on Friday resolved to retain the responsibility of supplying drinking water to the city after the imminent exit of Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Ltd. (JUSCO) by May-end. - - - - The MCC will incur an expenditure of Rs. 3.88 crore per month as against its revenue collection of Rs. 3.5 lakh. Besides, it will require 214 personnel which will cost the MCC an additional Rs. 23 lakh per month.

For the full text of the report in The Hindu, click here.

So, essentially, the tax payer is going to be burdened with an additional Rs 50 cr per annum, while simultaneously the citizens are going to be deprived of the benefits of a well-conceived (by none less than the redoudtable Mr Manivannan, IAS) scheme, and condemned once again to the dis-services of Vani Vilas Water Works, to escape from which, JUSCO had been roped in, in the first place.

And, mind you, taxes are not paid by the rich alone, as generally believed all these years. Every aam aadmi, while buying even essentials like toothpaste and soap, becomes a tax payer.

And, in Kalaburgi, the pseudo-Socialists have an additional grouse - that the water is recycled, going by the following excerpts from another report in The Hindu (for the full text, click here).

The district unit of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) on Saturday staged a protest in front of the Kalaburagi City Corporation opposing the privatisation of drinking water distribution under the World Bank-aided 24x7 Drinking Water Supply project.

SUCI district secretary S.M. Sharma said that the drinking water supplied to the city under the scheme was from the Bhima and the Bennethora. He added that the same contaminated and sewage water from the Bhima was treated and supplied to all the 55 wards under the scheme.

Considering that they are in a drought-prone area, one would have thought that any scheme to make water available would have been welcome. But, of course, politics have to take precedence, I guess.

Meanwhile, the people of Pune seem to have got their priorities right, going by the following excerpts from another report in the ToI (for the full text, click here).

Raising concerns over the funding of the 24X7 water supply project of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), civic officials on Wednesday said private companies may be roped in to support the much talked-about scheme.

Resulting from the changed political outlook? Welcome, either way.

response from Mysore Grahakara Parishad members

murali772 - 24 June, 2010 - 09:52

I had forwarded this blog to Dr Bhamy V Shenoy, a leading member of the MGP, and his response is as below:

Dear Murali,

thank you very much for bringing to our attention two key points about JUSCO through Praja posting.

I found the ADB report though short interesting and informative.  It is clear from that report that JUSCO is a relatively new company (formed in 2004), it has been supplying water for about 700,000 not on 24X7 basis but for about 6 hours a day and even more surprising that in some section of the city there is less than 1% metering.  The last point is most disturbing.  That may explain why per capita water consumption is one of the highest in India at 203 liters per day per person.

It is true that MGP is one of the few NGOs (perhaps may be the only one vocal supporter) of JUSCO from the beginning.  I as a member of MGP, have been actively supporting JUSCO.  Based on the information given by Mysore City Corporation, we were led to believe that JUSCO has more than 100 years of experience (this may still be true since JUSCO was the company formed out of the earlier utility) which has been supplying water in Jameshdpur on 24X7 for a very long time. Its operations are efficient but not the basis of its financial performance.  Our corporators had visited JUSCO operations and they also confirmed that water is supplied on 24X7 basis. Again this may be true for some section of the city. After all till few years back, some part of Mysore was getting water supply on 24X7 basis. Supplying water on 24X7 is not a rocket science and in just about every city in the developed countries water is supplied on 24X7 basis.

While some of us in MGP have given support to JUSCO project in Mysore, none of us have studied its technical or managerial capabilities. We went by the brand Tata and assumed that if they bid for contract and won it, they should be able to perform according to the contract terms.  Even if we had seen the ADB information which we see now, I would not have changed our opinion. I cannot speak for other members of MGP. This is because MGP has been studying the operations of Mysore's water supply for the last 20 years. It is totally dysfunctional and any outside consulting company even with some degree of technical competence should be able to improve it.  Of course if a company has excellent track record, and competence it will be great. But if we go on waiting for the ideal we may never achieve it.  

Based on the workings of JUSCO so far, while it is too early to say that they have failed in their mission, it will not be incorrect to state that they have not been successful in handling the public relations all that well.  Some section of the society which will be hurt if and when we get water supply on 24X7 is vehemently opposing JUSCO. JUSCO could have done a better job of interacting with the public and informing about how they plan to achieve their mission. In PR, they have failed.

At this stage we can only wait and hope for the best. I am still optimistic that we will have a better water supply system because of this JUSCO project under JNNURM.

Thanks again for sharing this information. I am copying JUSCO management to this email. May be they may like to clarify and give their views.

Bhamy Shenoy

another MGP member's comment

murali772 - 24 June, 2010 - 09:57

Dr Shenoy had in turn forwarded the blog to other members for their comments, and he forwarded to me the following response from Mr Chandra Prakash

Dear Dr.Bhamy Shenoy,

Since you marked a copy to me i am giving my views.

First, some brands in the country like L&T, and TATA are institution of integrity and patriotism. We are lucky to have such institutions in a highly selfish and corrupt country that is India. Hence length of existence of JUSCO need not be a matter of concern.

Second, ADB's track record, in getting infrastructure projects out of its own loaned funds, is nothing much to be happy about. Remember our ADB funded road works in the city during 80's and 90's? Therefore, its report on jusco (i dont know the contents) should not be criteria to judge JUSCO's competence in completing mysore project.

Third, mysore may be one  among a very very few cities of the world which is bestowed with such a huge potential for drinking water. Two rivers Cauvery and Kapila are encircling the outer periphery of mysore within a distance of 30-40 kilometers. The need is only to tap these two sources and supply potable water. JUSCO should be capable of doing the needful, but it may need 3-5 years.

Fourth, coming to public relations - well mysore is peculiarly placed in this regard. One cannot convince a group of people who are either pampered (earlier by the Maharajas and now by the corrupt and castiest politicians) or/and  irresponsible (since they dont intend to pay for the services, see the number of meter-less connections, unpaid bills, underpayment or no payment of house tax etc etc) citizens. One can deal with responsible citizens but not this lot in mysore. They better be left for a while and Jusco should simply concentrate in creating the facilities for 27x7 water supply and things will fall in place automatically.

You are well experienced citizen of mysore and would know the nature of municipal and muda administrative acumen. Only privatization (in good hands, and JUSCO i think is one of them) is the solution. Just 5 years ago electricity supply system underwent a tremendous capital inputs to ensure safety and adherence to standards- switch boards were put at all important terminals and gone were those hanging loose wires as switches. It is back to square one, no switch boards, no solar panel controlled steet lights. So better to try JUSCO type of privatization.

Rgds, Chandra Prakash

 

Jusco - most intersesting

Naveen - 25 June, 2010 - 08:08

Mr Murali

thanks for these most interesting exchanges - very revealing of the pathetic situation ! I feel it's worth continuing with JUSCO to see where this leads - if it fails, the effort might be worth & will offer better insights to the state on how best to go about it the next time - so, there is at least one positive.

One thing is for sure - people are very irresponsible & imagine that the state has to provide water, power, etc. for free ! Any move at privatization is opposed for this reason, but the reason cited is that officials & companies are hand-in-glove at fleecing the public.

I think for too long, the urban middle & lower middle income groups have got used to subsidies. This has to be broken step by step - the sooner, the better.

the janata knows better, Mayor Sahibare'

murali772 - 20 December, 2014 - 10:23

But once the contract was awarded, a JUSCO survey indicated that there were 1.75 water connections lakh as against the 1.2 lakh connections mentioned in the tender, and the pipeline that was to be overhauled was 1,911 km as against the 900 km mentioned. Though a revised estimate was submitted, it was not approved and work was carried out as per the original bid amount. 
 
Mayor R. Lingappa confirmed to The Hindu that Vani Vilas Water Works would be vested with the responsibility of providing and maintaining water supply. “The final decision will be taken by the corporation council. It is unlikely that fresh tenders will be invited,” he said.
 
Suresh Sharma, general manager, JUSCO, Mysuru, said the project contract will terminate on January 27 and the company will not take part in the tender process. Mr. Sharma claimed that JUSCO had achieved 95 per cent of the project objectives and had provided connections in 47 district metering wards. But this has been disputed by the Mayor. “They were supposed to ensure 24x7 water supply in all the wards but the supply has only deteriorated in most wards. The staff of Vani Vilas Water Works is competent of completing the second phase of the project,” Mr. Lingappa said.
 
For the full text of the report in The Hindu, click here
 
Oh, so this is where the sabotage started! And of course continued in various other ways thereon too - check here for more on that. 
 
And, as against the confidence expressed by the Mayor on VVW's competence, quoted below are excerpts (for the full text of that report also in The Hindu, click here) from what a prominent and respected resident has had to say
 
Bhamy V. Shenoy, who is associated with Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) has expressed pessimism about the competence of the Vani Vilas Water Works to handle the situation and has called for a separate competent body for the work. “JUSCO, with help from TCS, has developed a software and Geographic Information System (GIS) which provides information about the pipeline network, leakages etc. We will be back to square one if the assets are not utilised by trained people,” he said.
 
He pointed out that a critical factor for not finding a solution to water woes of Mysore was political interference. “It was a strategic blunder on the part of Mysureans for having remained indifferent when water works was transferred to the Mysore City Corporation in the mid 90s. The MGP has been promoting the establishment of a separate, autonomous company like the one serving Bengaluru,” he said.
 
I am fairly clear as to who I would like to believe. And, it's not a matter of competence alone. The bigger factor is corruption. 
 
Further, the solution does not lie in having a BWSSB like set up in Mysuru. The answer may perhaps lie here - yes, with the likes of JUSCO being outsourced the supply, but in a more transparent way (including not hiding the true situation from the contractor).
 

 

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