Centre has cut allocation for rural drinking water projects drastically: Krishna Byregowda

BENGALURU: The new JD(S)-Congress government has once again accused the Centre of disparity over fund allocation - this time over drinking water. Krishna Byregowda, rural development and panchayat raj minister, on Tuesday alleged that the Centre has drastically cut allocation for drinking water projects in the state over the past three years.

After chairing a review meeting with senior officials of the department, the minister said the Centre's allocation for state in 2013-14 was Rs 805 crore, which was reduced to Rs 270 crore in 2017-18. Whereas, Byregowda claimed, the state government's expenditure on drinking water projects in rural areas has increased from Rs 950 crore to Rs 2,342 crore, rendering an additional burden on the state exchequer.

"As a result, many drinking water projects in the state are limping," he said, adding that the Centre has been decreasing allocation to the state under different heads, while increasing allocations to other states as per the 14th finance commission recommendations, which is incorrect.

He also said the Centre is yet to release Rs 1,050 crore to the state government for additional works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP). "We have been repeatedly requesting the Centre to release funds, but in vain," Byregowda said.

When asked about complaints of corruption in installing drinking water kiosks - many of them are defunct due to lack of water sources or power supply - the minister said the department is evolving a mechanism to monitor the functioning of these kiosks online. "Once the mechanism is in place, we will know how much water each kiosk discharges daily. We will also know how many kiosks are defunct and fix responsibility," the minsiter said.

Byregowda said many rural roads have been damaged due to rain and that he has ordered officials to repair them immediately.

IMPOSSIBLE TO WEED OUT CORRUPTION

Byregowda also concurred with Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on corruption in government offices and said it is difficult to root out. "I will be lying if I say there is no corruption in government offices," he said. "It is everywhere. Nobody, not even me, is in the position to say we are 100 per cent corruption-free. We can only do our work honestly."