Protesting against the municipal corporation’s decision to hand over the water supply and maintenance of Hubballi Dharwad to a private company, members of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staged a demonstration in Hubballi on Monday.
Staging a demonstration before the office of the municipal corporation in Hubballi, they said that without any public consultation or collection of opinion from the stakeholders, the municipal corporation had handed over the contract of water supply to L&T, which was nothing but a unilateral decision.
Leading the protest, Ananthkumar Bugadi, Vikas Soppin, Biradar, Revanasiddappa Hubballi, Gopal Kulkarni and others strongly condemned the privatisation of the water supply system in the twin cities.
Addressing the protesters, Mr. Soppin said that the 24x7 water supply, which was initially implemented in some wards of the corporation, was now being extended to all the wards. All these years, the KUWSDB (Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board) had efficiently handled the 24x7 water supply in those wards. However when it was being extended to all the wards, KUWSDB had been kept away from it and a private company had been roped in, he said.
Mr. Soppin alleged that under the contract given to L&T company, the responsibility of laying the pipeline, water treatment and other works vested with the KUWSDB and only collection of the water bills had been given to the private company.
The protesters demanded that immediately the municipal corporation should revoke its decision and hand over the maintenance back to water board. A memorandum in this regard was submitted to the municipal corporation.
