DK Shivakumar, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka and senior Congress leader, flayed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, accusing it of playing politics over Bengaluru’s water scarcity. “BJP is planning a protest against the state government tomorrow, let them do what they want, first let them approach the central government and ask them to give permission to Mahadayi and Mekedaatu projects,” stated the deputy chief minister.
“The BJP is the ones causing the scarcity; we are giving Tamil Nadu what we have been lawfully requested to do. There is no such shortage of water in Bengaluru. Our goal is to supply water to Bengaluru,” he asserted.
“Out of 16,000 borewells, 7,000 are defunct. We are attempting every avenue to supply people with water. Investigating parties include the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) nodal officers and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). We took the water tanker mafia to task and have already registered 1500 tankers as part of our action. To identify which water providers are legal and which are unlawful, as well as who is charging more, there will be a board and phone number. We are giving slums free water. We don’t care if the BJP is getting involved in politics,” Shivakumar, the nodal minister for Bengaluru, remarked. In addition, he mentioned that the government is addressing the situation through a variety of means.
Earlier on Sunday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too criticized the previous BJP government for not doing more to alleviate the state’s water crisis.
“The BJP led a government in power from 2008 to 2013. The initiatives to fill the lakes and treat the waste water received no notice at the time. Lakes in the constituencies of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Bangalore Rural, Tumkur, and Anekal have dried up and been filled by projects in the KC Valley, HN Valley, Sanekal, Hoskote, and Kadubeesanahalli. Water supply to the districts of Nelamangala and Tumkur was handled by us. The initiative to fill 38 lakes with water, which was inaugurated today, has cost 150 crores,” he stated.