Congress creating ‘water scarcity’: BJP

Udupi CMC should ration water only in May: Bhat Step preventive: Yuvraj

BJP’s Raghupati Bhat says Congress is creating an artificial scarcity of water to show that the Swarna second stage project (in picture), implemented during the BJP rule, is a failure.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and the former MLA K. Raghupati Bhat said on Thursday that the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) was creating “artificial scarcity” by supplying water on alternate days despite the abundance of water in Baje and Shiroor dams across the Swarna River, a claim rubbished by the council.

CMC president P. Yuvaraj said that the water inflow into the Swarna had stopped, and that water was being rationed so that there would not be scarcity in May.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Bhat said there was 4.56 metres of water in Baje dam on March 12 (Wednesday).

The same quantity was available in March, 2013, also, while there was 4.64 metres of water during March 2012.

When the BJP was ruling Udupi CMC, it used to open two sluice gates at Shiroor dam in March but this time not a single gate had been opened, even though the water available in both these dams could last for next three months.

“If water rationing is needed, it could be introduced in May. Water rationing will result in some areas not getting adequate water because of lack of pressure. Besides, the water in these dams will get evaporated,” he said.

The CMC should give 24-hour water supply till the end of April.

“If there is a water shortage, why is Manipal University being supplied water round-the-clock? Why is mechanised sand mining being allowed near Shiroor?” he said.

Neither MLA Pramod Madhwaraj nor the CMC president had visited the Baje and Shiroor dams. “We suspect this is a political conspiracy by the Congress to show that the Swarna Second Stage project implemented during the BJP rule is a failure,” Mr. Bhat said.

CMC’s rebuttal

Later addressing presspersons, Mr. Yuvaraj said last summer, when the BJP was in power in the CMC, it started supplying water on alternate days from March 26.

“We have started supplying water on alternate day from March 7 so that there is no water problem in May. The present stock of water at both the dams is enough only for 70 days,” he said.

“We want to give equal supply of water to all parts of the city. If there is any complaint, we will attend to it immediately. We will be supplying water to Manipal University on alternate days from March 14,” he said.

“The BJP is trying to create an issue with an eye on parliamentary polls. There would have been no water problem if water was supplied from Varahi River instead of going in for Swarna Second Stage,” Mr. Yuvaraj said.