Pune: A panel constituted under the town planning department will register complaints regarding inadequate potable water in approved integrated townships in Maharashtra and submit them to the state government.Senior officials from the town planning department said that they would carry out checks at 30-odd approved integrated townships in the state from next month.Of the 30 approved townships, 13 are from Pune district. The members would check the progress in construction, amenity spaces, and focus on economy housing, besides verifying the adherence to the proposals submitted to the state government under the Integrated Township Policy.The committee was formed early this year under Kishore Gokhale, the deputy director of town planning. We will collate information regarding various issues faced by these townships as well as on the progress of construction and submit a detailed report to the state government, Gokhale told TOI. According to the rules, developers need to make allocation for water from the irrigation department for clearance. Most of the 30 townships are in Pune, Konkan and Nagpur divisions. Twelve of them are in construction stage, a department official said.Citizen activist Col SG Dalvi (retired) wondered how such mega townships would supply water to residents with the state already having declared drought-like condition in 40 of its 358 talukas in October. The state had experienced a 13.4% deficit in rainfall this year. The last drought in 2018 had impacted 151 talukas. He said, The current water storage in 2,994 small, medium and large dams across the state is around 70% as compared to 90% last year. The local authorities should ascertain how developers will procure water for such mega projects, he added. We also published the following articles recentlyWater released from Papanasam dam in TirunelveliThe Tirunelveli district collector has released water from the Papanasam dam for irrigation in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts. The water will be released for a period of 136 days to cultivate over 86,000 acres of land. The state government has ordered the release of water from other dams as well. The water will benefit several blocks in both districts, and farmers are urged to use it wisely.Industries wary of 3-year power tariff plan in stateThe Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commissions proposal to implement multi-year tariffs (MYT) has faced opposition from industries and commercial establishments. The MYT plan aims to provide transparency and advance notice of tariff changes for consumers. However, industry associations are concerned about the proposed parameters and the potential burden it may place on stakeholders. They argue that the volatility in fuel and power purchase cost adjustments makes future tariff certainty uncertain. The Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industries also raised concerns about the impact of subsidy programs on tariffs.State vs state fights, on taxesThe 16th finance commission in India needs to consider the impact of short-term migration on the distribution of tax proceeds to states. The traditional approach of relying on Gross State Domestic Products (GSDP) ignores the peculiarity of Indias economic transformation. Workers who migrate for short-term work spend a major part of their income in their villages, benefiting lower GSDP states. The growth of the GST regime further accentuates this informal cross subsidy. The finance commission should collect appropriate data on short-term migration to ensure fair distribution of tax proceeds.

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