The Chief Minister should cancel the recent appointment of a non-official as chairperson of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), the Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded.
BJP spokesperson S. Suresh Kumar told a news conference on Friday that he had written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanding that the decision be dropped.
Terming the move "inappropriate" and "counter-productive", Mr. Suresh Kumar said the Government was in the process of amending Section 3 of the BWSSB Act, which mandates that only a retired chief engineer or IAS official can be appointed its chairperson.
He said the water board’s administrative structure was different from other boards, which have a managing director and a chairperson. Ever since it was formed in 1964, only four of the 38 officials who headed it were non-IAS officials. The four – Ghulam Mohammed, K.G. Katwe, B.N. Thyagaraj and Puttakempanna – were retired chief engineers of the board.
Mr. Suresh Kumar also pointed out that when the board had received a World Bank loan in its early years, the funding agency had insisted that it should be an autonomous body responsible for managing water supply and head works. "In view of all this, appointing a non-official as the chairperson will be detrimental to the board," he said.
The BWSSB Employees’ Association has also opposed the move. Association president Rudregowda said the employees would present a memorandum to Mr. Siddaramaiah and Governor Vajubhai Vala soon.
Belagavi protest
Mr. Suresh Kumar defended the party’s plan to stage an agitation against the Congress government during next week’s Belagavi session and said they would go ahead with the plan.
“We want the Government to ensure there are no more farmers’ suicides similar to Vittal Arabhavi’s; he committed suicide during last year’s Belagavi session," he said.
He said the government had gone back on its promise of ensuring that sugarcane farmers got a price of Rs. 2,650 a tonne owing to pressure from Congress leaders. “The government must keep its promise irrespective of whether the factory owners are from the Congress or the BJP," Mr. Suresh Kumar said.
