Page 61 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes Water Supply and Drainage
We have reached a stage where no city has round the clock water supply. Intermittent supply
results in a vaccum being created in empty water lines which often suck in pollutants through
leaking joints. Cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Rajkot, Ajmer, and Udaipur get water from municipal
sources for less than an hour a day. Many small towns have little water rain supply and are
dependent on tubewells. Even a relatively planned and serviced city like Delhi has now to reach
as far as 180 km to the Ramganga for augmentation of water supply. Banglore pumps water from
far off distance with a lift of about 700 metres. Most towns and cities which normally get good rain
every year, have been undergoing the agony of acute water shortage in the last eight-nine years.
What seems to be sadly lacking is a national water policy which would assess the total water
resources and then allocate water. This in spite of the State Chief Ministers’ meeting at Delhi in
September 1987 which approved National Water Policy which aimed at giving priority to drinking
water requirements.
When we look on the other side of the water problem, that is, drainage, we find the situation
equally bad. One of the less known facts about India is that there is not a single city which is fully
sewered. Not even Chandigarh can claim this distinction because unauthorised constructions in
and around it lie outside the purview of the main system. Because of the non-existence of the
drainage system, large pools of stagnant water can be seen in every city even in summer months.
Just as we need a national water policy, we also need a national and regional drainage policy.
Transportation and Traffic
The transportation and traffic picture in all Indian cities is extremely unsatisfactory. A majority of
people use buses and tempos, while a few use rail as transit system. The increasing number of
scooters, motorcycles, mopeds and cars make traffic problem worse. For example, in Mumbai,
automobiles have trebled (from 3.1 lakh to 8.73 lakh) between 1986 and 1996 (The Hindustan Times,
November 29, 1996). They pollute the air with smoke. In Mumbai alone, daily pollutants let out
into the air are about 3,000 tons, of which 52 per cent come from automobiles, 2 per cent from
domestic fuels, and the remaining 46 per cent from industries.
The number of buses plying in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta is
not adequate and commuters have to spend about one to two hours to get into a bus, which means
leaving home two hours in advance in the morning to reach their place of work and reaching
home two hours late in the evening. The main reason for this messy condition is that the low
income of commuters forces them to live in areas with cheap accommodation which necessitates
extensive travel. Further, since city residents cannot afford to pay high fares for using public
transport system, fares have to be kept very low which results in all city bus services sustaining
such annual losses as hamper their expansion or maintenance of a fleet adequate to meet city
needs.
Power Shortage
Closely linked with transportation is the question of power shortage. The use of electrical gadgets
has considerably increased in cities; on the other hand, the establishment of new industries and
the expansion of the old ones has also increased dependence on electricity. Most states are not in
a position to generate the power that they need with the result that they remain dependent on the
neighbouring states. Conflict over distribution and supply of power among states often leads to
severe power crises in cities.
Sanitation
Municipalities and municipal corporations in Indian cities are so riddled with maladministration
that they have time for sanitation of their cities, particularly with regard to removing garbage,
cleaning drains, and unclogging sewers. Sweepers rarely and reluctantly perform their assigned
duties and every few months threaten to go on strike on the issue of wages, etc. Garbage disposal
fleets operate to a third or half of their capacity. If removing garbage work is assigned to private
contractors, they always complain of non-payment of money and stop working on slight pretexts.
There is, thus, total lack of motivation to tackle the basic sanitation needs of the cities. The spread

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