water web weavers bkd raja 14 mar 05

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A Case Study of Private Sector Participation in Water Operations, Hubli, Karnataka, India

1By Dr. BKD Raja ([email protected]), Samaj Vikas ([email protected])for KUIDFC and WSP-SA, The World Bank - February 2005

Lost Elections

Water alone cant win you elections.This is what NarayanappaChowdappa Chinthaginjala hadshouted into my ear as we weresilently retrieving ourselves from thenoisy looms. As we went round the

slum, he explained his abortedadventure into politics in great detail.He had unsuccessfully contested themunicipal elections during 1996 from Ward No. 67 of Hubli-DharwadMunicipal Corporation in Karnataka. More recently, during 2000 hiscolleague tried his luck and met with a similar fate. This ward is now knownas Nekar Nagar (Weaver Colony). A more respectful name than what wascalled before, Nekar Oni (Weavers Lane). This is an official slum declared byKarnataka Slum Clearance Board. Before he gets close to my ear again, let ushave a look at the web this weaver wove.

Two Revolutions and the Lost Great Indian Weaver

The First Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 18th century,following the wake of James Watt and his steam engine. The initial focus ofindustrialization was on textiles; cloth was needed by everyone. Of course!Cloth saves humans from shame. Earlytextiles were produced by the cottage

industry system which was a familybusiness model. A Second Industrial

Revolution had set in late in the 19thcentury and involved development of

the steel industry and giantcorporations. The cottage industriescould not stand up to this revolutionand collapsed. These developments had their impact on Indian weavers.


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The Indian weaver community has been famous, in India and abroad, for itsexemplary skills in making exquisite textiles. The industrial revolutions and

the resultant down fall of cottage industry in India, during the early 19th

century, resulted in a traumatic transition of weavers picking up work in thenearby textile mills, if available, or switching to a different trade or migrate,

willingly or unwillingly, but for livelihood.

Brides Pride

Narayanappas grandfather, Govindappa hails from Ananthapur District ofAndhra Pradesh. His community, the Weavers, in this region are known forproducing the finest silk sarees called Dharmavaram Silk Sarees. These sareesare very famous in southern India, particularly during marriages, and areindeed Every Brides Pride. Like many others from his community during

the beginning of the 20th century, Govindappas son Chowdappa along withhis wife Ramakka had to migrate to Karnataka in search of work. By hind

sight, Narayana ppa recalls that it proved to be a wise decision in view of thecurrent crisis that has led to several weavers suicides in the district. Thecouple moved to Hubli region in northern Karnataka and found gainfulemployment in weaving as daily wage earners. Just about a decade beforeindependence, they were blessed with Narayanappa. As Narayanappa grewup he studied upto middle school and went on to work in the local TextileMills in Hubli. He became very popular among the local workers in the mills.

The Fall Mills

The Bharat Textile Mills was started

during the British period. This waslater rebranded as KarnatakaCooperative Textile Mills. Around1970, this mill w as taken over byMahadeva Textile Mills owned by Mr.Mahadevappa of Davanagere inKarnataka. The mill which waschurning in excellent profits initiallybecame sick by 1991 and was handedover to Government of Karnataka for revival. After this further deteriorationof the financial health resulted in the closure of the mill in 1995. Many of the

weavers were left unemployed due to this closure. Narayanappa feels that theleftist trade union activities were one among the factors that had led the millto a financial dead end. He feels that without enough profit no enterprise canbe run smoothly. According to him there are many other ways of ensuring

social equity. Later, this forgiving attitude of Narayanappa towards genuinedefaulters of water bills stands a testimony to this.


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Weaving a Nest

Due to migration of people into the region, the house rents in Hubli werequite high and the low income/no-income weavers were feeling the pinch

every month. They decided that theyshould pool in their savings to have aroof of their own. The then youngNarayanappa and his friends identifieda piece of land measuring 9 acresoutside Hubli. Mr. Hublikar, a well todo weaver, agreed to sell the land to thispoor weavers. The transaction wasclosed at a rate of Rs. 5800 per acre.Engineer L.S. Chawan helped Narayanappa and his team in lay-out plans anddivided the land into 300 residential plots of 26 feet by 26 feet size. These were

sold at Rs. 250/- per plot mostly to fellow weavers. The surplus money wasused for development of the lay-out. Thus by 1979, the Nekar Oni wasestablished with about 300 weavers as proud owners of their own houseplots. Initially about 60 huts were built and families started to move in aftermodest house (hut) warming ceremonies. They built a temple and formed acommittee, the Kalyana Basaveshwara Devasthana Kalyana Committee.Because of the goodwill already created by Narayanappa, he was the naturalchoice of people to mantle the role of President of the Committee.

Community Water Delivery System in Action

Initially during 1979, the committee realized the need for a water sourcewithin the colony and did dig a well, but it did not yield water. The residentswere forced to trek about half a kilometer to a nearby farm, Tengli Thota inEshwar Nagar, to fetch water from an open well. They used to ferry water bybicycles and push/pull carts. Soon the drudgery of fetching water from adistance of half-a-kilometer got the better of them and they mulled over theidea of having a borewell within the close proximity. Further they realizedthat the source at Tengli Thota was not protected as it is an open well. Thecommittee mulled over the issue and decided to have their own water supplywithin the colony. In 1982, Narayanappa took the initiative and got a borewelldrilled and got a hand pump fixed to it. This costed the committee about Rs.

40,000/-. There was jubilation among the slum dwellers, in particular amongthe women folk.

This borewell was named as Siddharoodha Theertha Borewell after a popular

math at Hubli. An area of ten feet by ten feet was earmarked for this borewell.

The committee got the borewell water tested in 1983 and found it fit for use.


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land also started moving upwards. The slum is now 320 houses strong. Thisgrowth had a telling effect on the water delivery system. The duration of the

supply got restricted to two hours to each household on alternate days.

Web Widens

By early 2000, the committee realized that the water source need to be

augmented. The committee impressed upon the local corporator and another

nominated corporator on the need to have another borewell. Due this

sustained pressure, during late 2000, another borewell was drilled by the

Municipal Corporation.

With the piped water supply in place,

a systematic operation andmaintenance plan was drawn up bythe Committee. The committee

installed a pump and motor in thesecond borewell and connected it tothe system. The second borewell waterwas tested during 2001 and was found

potable. Two operators wereappointed. They are Mr. MarutappaRawal and Mr. Raju Kavakunte. They are paid each Rs. 1000/- per month.Now the committee charges Rs. 20/- per household per month. The twooperators collect water charges from the residents. They attend to users

complaints and rectify leakages. The supply stabilised at two hours per day

to each household.

Government Pools In

The first borewell was handed over tothe Municipal Corporation during

2003. From then on the Corporationpays the power charges for both theborewells. Operation and maintenanceis borne by the Committee. During2004, the Karnataka Slum ClearanceBoard laid a second pipe line in the

slum with view to connect the slum tothe Corporation water supply. Thenew network has been extended to all the lanes. But connection to theCorporation water pipeline running along the main road is yet to be activated.

Some of the residents say it is a waste to have a duplicate pipeline.

Narayanappa says that the system needs to be mainstreamed sooner or later.


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He says that when he started it was an isolated colony and now the city isexpanding and the slum needs to be integrated into the mainline system. He

opts for both water systems to be operational, so that the residents will have a

choice.

Scaling Heights

Today the slum has 20 laterals with

control valves on the main pipelinesupplying water to all lanes. Every

lateral has a valve for control. Thewhole system has been built without

the help of any engineer or plannerand works extremely well. But thegroundwater levels have gone downin the area. Water is becoming scarce.

Now a days water is supplied for onehour to each household on alternate days. The charges remain at Rs. 20/-. Onan average the Committee collects about Rs. 4,000/- to 5,000/- a month byway of water charges. Printed receipts

are issued to customers againstcollection of water charges. Thismoney is deposited in the exclusiveaccount of Siddharoodha TheerthaBorewell account. Sometimes thetemple money is deposited into theaccount, but well-managed as two

separate and distinct units. On anaverage, about Rs. 3,000/- per month

is spent on salaries and on routine maintenance. This includes some money

spent on monthly Amavasya pooja at the borewells. The balance amount is

kept as reserve in the bank for exigencies such as electrical repairs andreplacement of parts.

The bill collection is timely andefficient, and stands at around 90%.About 30 to 40 households areperpetual defaulters. The committee

holds a lenient view of them oncompassionate grounds, as they aremostly households not getting enoughwater, women headed households,widows, single old men or women,daily wage labourers with no


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guarantee of work, etc. Some households pay in a frequency of once in twomonths due to genuine difficulties.. Customers are free to orally register theircomplaints with the operators or pose them to Narayanappa or Ganeshappa.

Some residents say that the Committee is not taking the defaulters issueseriously, as the system can be managed with whatever they could collect.

Narayanappa says these days residents quarrel with committee for water andover do their grievances. Ganeshappa says it is difficult to collect water

charges regularly. These practices sums up the Gender and Vulnerable Policyof the Committee and doubles up as an unwritten Citizen Charter.

Role Model

This water management system has

become a role model for many othercolonies, like the Vinayak Chowk,

Maruthi circle, Ranadamma colony and

Chawan plot. Among these,Ranadamma colony has its ownmanaged water supply and thecorporation supply. Narayanappa says

that he is aiming at this for his colony.

No Elections

All this great work and you loose!

We are not surprised. If you want towin, the water must be of a different

color and taste. We will not contest themunicipal polls again. We can notafford to supply liquor through thisnetwork. That is how Narayanappa,the WaterWebWeaver concludes as wewalked out of the colony against theback drop of the receding noise oflooms.

water web weavers bkd raja 14 mar 05

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