Orissa to regulate ground water exploitation

In the wake of a spate of allegations of exploitation of ground water by industries in the state, the Orissa government has decided to come out with the Ground Water (Regulation, Development & Management) Bill in the ensuing Budget session of the state assembly.

The proposal got the nod of the State Cabinet which met on Friday evening. It has been decided to set up a ground water regulatory authority under the chairmanship of the state water resources secretary for the purpose. However, the proposed regulation will not cover ground water use for agriculture and domestic purposes.

"The average ground water utilization in Orissa is only 26 per cent but in 26 blocks of the state, the exploitation has been to the extent of 50 per cent and more. The high exploitation of ground water has been noticed in Balasore, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Mayurbhnaj districts. A Bill for regulation of ground water will be introduced in the Budget session of the assembly and a ground water regulatory authority will be constituted which will be applicable to those areas where there is high exploitation of ground water”, the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik briefed mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to the salary hike of MLAs. The hike will be effective with retrospective effect from April 1, 2010 and post the hike, the MLAs will draw Rs 60,000 per month compared to Rs 21,000 which they were getting earlier.

Similarly, the Chief whip's salary has been scaled up from Rs 20,000 to Rs 59,000 per month.

For state cabinet ministers, the revised salary stands at Rs 58,000 as against Rs 18,000 which they used to receive previously. The Ministers of state will draw Rs 57,000 compared to Rs 16,000 earlier.

The pay packets of the speaker and the deputy speaker have been revised to Rs 58,500 and Rs 57,000 respectively respectively.

The Cabinet also gave its green signal for the introduction of another Bill- Protection of Interests of Depositors Bill to regulate the Non-Banking Financial Establishments.

The Bill will have several provisions and if an organization dupes the customers, the money would be recovered and paid back to the customers.

An Economic Offences wing will also be set up in this connection.