Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act 2005, a pioneering act of its kind, has no role for the people outside the bureaucracy and the ministries. This shocking revelation was reinforced at a recent meeting in Pune, where the chairman and secretary of Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority also spoke. The Act is being amended, Suresh Sodal said, to bring into its ambit groundwater development and management issues and to expand the tariff fixing role of the Authority.

This may be a good time to bring in other amendments to give people of the state a say in the water sector. The assurance by officials of the Authority that people will have an opportunity to express their views (and the officials will decide what to do with them!) is clearly inadequate, to put it mildly. Read more

Scrutiny of the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act shows that the progressive promises of its wording are likely to be belied. Partly this is because of fundamental flaws in its structure, but it is also partly because it reinforces the standard World Bank pattern of reforms. Read More

New website of the MWRRA
Approach paper from the MWRRA on bulk water pricing
Critiques of the approach paper:
An introductory note to facilitate analysis and discussion by Subodh Wagle and Sachin Warghade .
Comments from PRAYAS, Pune.
Comments from S.N.Lel.
Comments from Milind Sohoni.
Comments from S.N. Sahasrabudhe .