Farmers to protest with empty pots demanding potable water

Farmers from rural areas in Kalaburagi district have planned to stage a protest with empty pots outside the office of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board in Kalaburagi on Tuesday demanding potable water

Farmers from rural areas in Kalaburagi district have planned to stage a protest with empty pots outside the office of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board in Kalaburagi on Tuesday demanding potable water.

Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi on Saturday, Sharanabasappa Mamshetty, district president of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), said that works taken up under the Union government’s Jal Jeevan Mission to supply drinking water through pipes were sub-standard.

“The government is spending ₹2 crore to each village under the Jal Jeevan Mission for supplying drinking water to every household. There are instances where the bills are cleared even before the completion of the work. In some places, the quality of work is very poor. The officers, hand in glove with the contractors, are doing everything to defeat the very purpose of supplying drinking water to each household in the rural areas. Our protest would also raise the issue demanding the authorities concerned to blacklist the contractors responsible and recover the money spent on the project apart from filing criminal cases against them,” he said.

Mr. Mamshetty alleged that the government was escaping from its duty of water supply by privatising the task.

“It is nothing but privatisation. The households are given metered water connections. The families which use more than 55 litres of water a day would be charged for additional use. It would be an additional burden for the poor farmers and farm labourers in the rural area,” he said.