At its meeting on July 11 the State Council of the party will consider what steps should be taken against Mr. Bharathan.

The Calicut Council on June 19 decided to accord a civic reception to the Prime Minister with the casting vote of the Mayor.

Nineteen Councillors Congress and Independents voted in favour and 19 consisting of Muslim League (7), a section of Right Communists and the Left-Communists (9) voted against the resolution when the issue was put to vote. Mayor's Explanation

Mr. E. C. Bharathan, Mayor of the Calicut Corporation, referring to the suspension order on him by the Kerala Right Communist Party Executive for voted in the having Calicut Council in favour of according a civic reception to Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister, stated that the action of the party would have grave implications.

"If the Communist Party takes the stand that my reception of the Prime Minister as Mayor is a mistake, then the Party will have to confess that local bodies are media for political conflicts."

Explaining that he had sent an invitation to Mrs. Gandhi Mr. Bharathan said, "I had to discharge my responsibilities to the Prime the citizens of Minister and to Calicut and so I had to be firm in the stand taken by me originally. I have not gone against the discipline of the party or defied it, which was not my aim."

Mr. Bharathan said the conditions in the State afterwards might have changed

the party's attitude to the civic reception, but it was unfortunate that the Party failed to realise the propriety of his having to adhere to his original stand.

If the party contends that I had committed a "mistake". Mr. Bharathan said he could not but point out that such an issue was of great import. "If a non-Congress Ministry comes into power in the State hereafter and if the Congress is in power in the Centre they would not be in a position to expect any attitude more helpful than at present from the Centre. If the State Government were then to insist that the Prime Minister should not visit the State they could presume what magnitude the issue would have.

Madras

Disposal Of City Sewage

Public Health engineers are now working on a system of "full treatment" of sewage to solve Madras City's drainage problem.

This is said to be more satisfactory than the old method of disposing sewage over large extent of land. Under the new method, the treated sullage water could be used for cooling purposes in industries and for developing agriculture and fishing farms.

The engineers to-day said the purification of sewage is "a normal process" brought about by nature and the main purpose of artificial methods is just to "speed up" this.

The artificial methods the Department proposes to adopt would remove large solids, organic and inorganic matter and held in the quick "oxidation" of the dissolved impurities in the sewage. At this stage, the dirty sullage water becomes good enough for cultivation.

The engineers have already started work at Pallikaranai, about two miles south of Adyar, where fully-treated sewage water could be used to cultivate the swampy land there.

In engineering parlance, sewage is just "liquid wastes of a community" and the community would be surprised to know what is available in the liquid wastes from City houses.

One gallon of sewage, engineers estimate, would contain upto 250 billions of bacteria. But most of these are harmless and are engaged in converting complex organic constituents of the sewage into simpler, stable, organic compounds.

But what gives the sewage its dirty smell is the subsistance that has an animal, vegetable or minernal origin. The Public Health engineers' attempt now is to break it into simpler substances, rid the sewage of its obnoxious character, and let it back into the cultivating farms, cooling towers of industries, or streams like the Buckingham Canal that go out to sea.

Under the comprehensive scheme drawn up by the engineers, the sewage, fresh from the houses, will be taken to a "screening chamber" to filter large particles of suspended matter.

The sewage would now go into a "grit chamber", where the flow velocity would be so adjusted that the heavier solids, like grit and sand, get deposited at the bottom. If elear, this grit can be used for land filling, road making or for gritting roads in frosty weather.

The sullage water would be next taken to a sedimentation tank to filter the suspended matter. matter. This matter can be used as fertilizer

after drying.

The penultimate stage is the trickling filter, that has a bed of broken stone, gravel, etc., enclosed in walls of brick or concrete. By recirculating the sullage water through high rate filtration methods, it is taken to large shallow basins, which receive a continuous flow of raw and settled sewage.

According to existing plans, the sewage thus treated is to be chlorinated and let into the Buckingham Canal to reach the Adyar river. There is also a proposal to start pisciculture in consultation with the Fisheries. Department.

Maharashtra

Bombay Faces Acute Water Shortage

Bombay city was in the grip of acute

water shortage, as the Hydraulic Engineer on July 5 ordered a cut of 30 million gallons in the daily supply of 190 million gallons to the city. Inadequate water in lakes, main source of city's water supply, due to failure of rains in catchment area, was the cause of shortage. As an emergency measure the opening of wells in the city was also ordered. There are 1,600 wells in the city and 5,500 in the suburbs.

Maharashtra Government on July 11 promulgated the Maharashtra Emergency Power (Water Supply) Ordinance, and on July 12 under the Ordinance the Government ordered that on the following day water supply to industrial undertakings and public construction works in Greater Bombay and in the neighbouring Thana district would be stopped for a day to conserve the city's depleting water resources. By the Ordinance Maharashtra Government assumed special powers to regulate the supply of water and prevent waste.

A "save water campaign" launched by the authorities included stopping of water sprinkling in municipal gardens and washing of cars and trucks.

Chief Minister of Maharashsra Mr. V. P. Naik on July 11 appealed to the citizens of Bombay to be prepared for voluntary evaculation in the event of no rains in the catchment area of lakes feeding water to the city. He said that the blueprint for evacuation was being got ready and a decision on the same would be taken on July 15 However, it would be better if children and elderly people kept ready for evacuation in view of the danger of outbreak of epidemics.

Mr. Naik appealed to the people through out the country not to visit Bombay till the water supply position improved in the city. The inflow of people to the city from upcountry areas had to be stopped immediately, he added. As a first step the students in colleges and schools should go to their home towns. Student population in Bombay city from the kindergarten to the university level is estimated to be 700,000.

There were reports of water being sold at one rupee a bucket at Dharavi. Although

the authorities had adopted special devices to prevent fire hydrants from being opened, some hutment dwellers had forged keys to open them up. Nearly 400 such keys were seized from the slum areas. Pupils in many primary and secondary schools were advised to make their own arrangements of drinking water as the schools were not getting water.

Women's wing of Mysore Pradesh Congress and the Youth Congress expressed distress at the failure of rains in Bombay and Maharashtra, and decided to hold a prayer meeting in Bangalore for rains in Bombay. Nasik Municipal President Mr. Shantaram Bapu Wayre on July 12 offered accommodation with water to nearly 100,000 of Bombay's thirsty citizens on 24 hours notice.

India's Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi in a cable from Brioni (Czechoslovakia) to Maharashtra's Chief Minister expressed her distress over the water shortage in Bombay and inquired whether the Central Government could render any assistance.

Chief Minister Mr. V. P. Naik said the evacuation plan if it unfortunately got under way, would include the non-essential population. "It would have nothing to do with caste, creed, religion or language", he added. Mr. Naik referred to the suggestion made in Bombay Corporation that non-Maharashtrians should be asked to leave the city as "unfortunate".

The Mayor Mr. S. R. Patkar announced on July 12 that if the monsoon continued to play truant from August 1 the citizens would get only 60 million gallons per day as the two main sources, Tansa and Vai tarna Lakes would, by then, have been exhausted. The

city would be supplied water from Vihar lake only. Mr. Patkar pointed out that it would not be possible to give any guarantee about supplying water to fight fires from that date. The fire brigade would have to depend on wells and static tanks.

Thirsty Bombay's prayers were answered on July 13 and after a long dry spell, the catchment areas of the lakes received substantial rainfall. The anxiety-ridden Chief Minister beamed with joy, and such was the sense of relief experienced by the city fathers

member-secretary. The technical advisers. for the Committee will be Mr. S. V. Natu, Chief Engineer, Public Health, Irrigation. and power Department, and Mr. D. R. Bhise, Municipal Hydraulic Engineer.

The Committee will study the existing supply facilities and decided on the change and additions necessary, will assess the on the basis of a requirements of water reasonable standard to be specified for the existing population of Greater Bombay. The probable population growth in the immediate future will be considered. Included in requirements will be the special needs of industry. It will also study the utilisation of sewage water and salt water for industries and for non-potable use and the financial implications thereof.

An adjournment motion moved by the opposition to protest against State Government's appointment of the Committee to regulate water supply in Greater Bombay was lost on July 28. Mr. Gulabrao Ganacharya, the Opposition leader, and