PUDUCHERRY: In a veiled counter to CM V Narayanasamy on the issue of CSR funds for desilting, Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi on Tuesday called upon people to come together and give a warning to those who had kept them deprived and thirsty.

In a WhatsApp message, Bedi said the poor people needed to buy mineral water since groundwater level had dipped, getting salinated and becoming unfit for drinking since vested interests had neither addressed the issue of desilting nor allowed waterbodies to exist.

Now an honest community solution is being resisted with lies, she said in an oblique reference to the CM.

Stating that all efforts are being made to scare away donors and public officials driving the change, Bedi said they would not succeed as long as she was in Puducherry.

Wondering what would happen after she left Puducherry, Bedi said people must understand that it was time for them to come together. Unless people rise above caste, colour and creed, they will continue to suffer and buy water.

For vested interests what matters is what is in their interest and not what is in public interest. A situation would arise where the waterbodies will remain never desilted, she warned.