Provincial minister without portfolio, Syed Ali Mardan Shah, has blamed vested interests and corrupt officials of Irrigation Department for

Delhi chief min ister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday said that the city requires more water due to the large number of influx of migrants from different states. She said that it is the right of the city to get its due share of water as decided by the Central government from the neighbouring states. The chief minister was replying to the allegation of the Union water resources minister Saifuddin Soz that the city has been wasting water during a function to launch the estamping for the registration of properties.

Though successive Governments at the Centre and in the State have adopted several ambitious schemes like Sajaldhara to supply safe drinking water to people, due to the alleged indifference and lack of proper follow-up action of the Government, there has been no desired results. The Government observed 2003 as the year of safe drinking water. But it is a matter of great regret that even after five years, the objectives of the scheme have been relegated to the background as is evident from the dismal water supply schemes in several parts of Barpeta district.

Residents of Palaskata, Makdem, Kajumal, Nandran, Kasavalim, Satpal and Gawaliwada have complained of acute water shortage since March, after the Water Supply department disconnected public taps in many parts of Mollem. "At present, there is about 10 to 12 thousand litres of water shortage per day in the area,' Mollem panch Mr Shahu told Herald. Most of the residents are without water connections and are dependent on public taps. The water supply department has arranged to supply water through tankers, said sources.

The Indian high commissioner, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, said on Tuesday lack of management was mainly responsible for the water crisis in Bangladesh. His remark came when a participant in a discussion on the relationship between Bangladesh and India drew his attention to the Farakka Barrage issue.

Nearly $13bn will be invested over the next ten years in securing water supplies in the face of climate change, the Australian government has announced. The investment includes $1.5bn in new urban water investment to help secure water supplies for homes and businesses in the face of climate change. Announcing the government's plans, Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong said most Australian towns and cities can no longer rely on rainfall to supply drinking water.

Water and Sanitation Authority (Wasa) has been directed to conduct laboratory tests of water before releasing it into pipelines. District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil gave the directive while discussing measures to control gastroenteritis with health officials and elected representatives. He said old water pipelines should be replaced and daily reports be submitted to him directly on measures taken by concerned departments. He said magistrates will be deputed to ensure no rotten fruit or vegetable or substandard drinks were sold in the market.

Farmers staged protest demonstrations, manhandled irrigation department staff and blocked main roads in four towns of the district on Tuesday in protest against water shortage. Hundreds of farmers, whose land is irrigated through Dilary distributary, staged a protest outside the office of irrigation department in Kot Ghulam Mohammad. The protesters were carrying banners and placards and were demanding water in the canal.

The entire State of Manipur has been facing acute shortage of water due to the failure of the main water supply project at Singda in Imphal. Official sources said if the state did not receive any rainfall within the next few days, the dam would be without a single drop of water. Meanwhile, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister T N Haokip visited the Singda dam site and met village chiefs to discuss about the maintenance of the dam. People of Imphal city, who depend entirely on water supply by the PHED, were most affected by the water shortage.

Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal warned today that water scarcity and other environment-related problems were bound to get aggravated unless effective steps were taken to reverse the process of global warming and asserted that the Centre must compensate the hill states that were playing a vital role in reducing greenhouse gases by maintaining forest cover.