Who owns Bellary water distribution anyway?

bellary: the citizens of bellary are feeling hot under the collar with the municipal council and the karnataka urban water supply and drainage board (kuws&db) tossing back and forth the responsibility of water distribution. what should be taken up on priority, and pronto, is streamlining of the system so that the town gets sufficient water without constraints.this task, coupled with more taxing process of cess collection, has made the issue more murkier, forcing both council and kuws&db to pass the buck. at the first-ever municipal council meeting after the recent change of guard, the water board on thursday sought to pass on the baton to the council as the latter owes dues to the tune of rs 1,600 lakh. water board executive engineer a.g. surendra appealed to the council to step in. ``most town municipalities in the state maintain (water) distributary system. bellary needn't be an exception to it.'' the dues from the council, he feared, was the main worry. the water board used to incur an expenditure of rs 30 lakh maintaining water lines of which the government eased the burden with rs 10 lakh. with the government calling off the grant, the water board has perforce to bear all the expenditure. the water board official said: ``we will continue with our job if the council pays a minimum of rs 5 lakh of the rs 11-lakh recurring expenses.'' when he got up to speak, council commissioner d.l. narayana presented an equally gloomy picture: water tax collection is a nightmare, rs 3 crore was pending as arrears from water users and the council gets rs 9 lakh of the rs 12.5-lakh water tax every month. these are the facts that formed the very kernel of the council's argument. the upshot: streamline the tax collection system. the council's cup of woes brimmeth over. even after regularising some 6,000 illegal water connections, the council may not rake in rs 15 lakh. and the expenses incurred? a whopping rs 50 lakh. ``therefore, the council is not prepared to take over the distribution,'' the commissioner declared and added that its decision will be conveyed to the government after passing resolution to this effect at the meeting. the meeting was unique in that in its first sitting it sought to discuss subjects threadbare before arriving at a decision. a practice that was not the norm in previous councils. the council decided to take stringent action against the contractor of wholesale vegetable market for defaulting on tender instalments in the last six months which runs into nearly rs 30 lakh. the revenue officer said the contractor stopped payment of tender amount from april and failed to respond to notices. the council resolved to absorb time-scale employees as they are deprived of statutory benefits since 1986 when about 150 employees were recruited. about 90 employees were now working as time-scale employees. the council decided to scrap the contract of garbage clear contractor as the service was not up to mark. members suggested that his service be continued till alternative is worked out. council president v. lakshamamma chaired the meeting which was attended by all officials, including vice-president g. somasekhar reddy. commissioner d.l. narayana welcomed the members.