Govt suppressing demand for water: Congress

The Congress on Saturday alleged that the Devendra Fadnavis government in the state has been suppressing the demand in hundreds of villages to provide more tankers for adequate drinking water because it wants to hide the failure of its flagship water conservation scheme, Jalayukta Shivar.

Under the scheme, the government had announced that 16,000 villages would be free from drought. Currently, 5,174 tankers are being used to provide water to around 3,700 villages that are facing acute water shortage. The government has denied the Congress’s claims.

“There has been demand from villages across the state and the government will need to provide more than 10,000 tankers. However, to hide the failure of the Jalyukta Shivar scheme, the district administrations are not responding to the demands by the villages for more tankers,” alleged Maharashtra Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant. “This is leading to a desperate situation in drought-hit villages, which are witnessing a stampede-like scramble for water as villagers rush to the tankers for water.”

Sham Lal Goyal, additional chief secretary, water supply and sanitation, refuted the allegations of suppression.

“We have been very liberal in supply of tankers as it concerns water. There can be no politics over this matter. In fact, the chief minister is holding regular audio conferences with zilla parishad officials and making all provisions to ensure adequate water, both for people and cattle,” said Goyal.

First Published: May 12, 2019 02:37 IST