The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has advocated rationing of water and increase in user charges.

Mr Ahluwalia plans to put up this issue before the States during the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) on Saturday. The meeting will be chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by over 25 Chief Ministers. The meeting has been called to approve the Approach Paper to the 12{+t}{+h} Five-Year Plan.

“Water is a commodity that has to be rationed. I don't think that pricing will provide all the solutions. But then, how do you ensure that a scarce resource is properly harnessed and distributed,” Mr Ahluwalia told reporters here.

He talked about a bottom-up approach for subsidy eradication. “You can have a system that says that the first so many litres of water are free for the really poor. Above that, you charge a higher rate that covers the subsidy. You can have this system for everybody,” Mr Ahluwalia added.

Apart from Approach Paper, water and energy, issues such as the Planning Commission's Rs 32 per day, per person poverty line and corruption are likely to figure prominently in the NDC meeting.

The NDC will also take stock of the economy in the backdrop of sluggish growth and persistent high inflation, which is hovering around the double-digit mark. The Approach Paper, which provides a broad policy framework to be pursued in the five-year period to achieve the desired growth rate, was approved by the full Planning Commission on August 20 and by the Cabinet on September 15.

>Shishir.s@thehindu.co.in

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