Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi said she has given a written instruction that hereafter title deed would be issued only if it is certified that the land is not a water body.
Participating at a function here to present the Dr. M.S. Swaminathan award for environment protection, she said unauthorised occupation of water bodies was one of the reasons for droughts.
“India is a victim of floods and droughts at the same time. I never knew both were preventable till I took over as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry,” Ms. Bedi said.
She said four groups have to work together — politicians, public servants, academicians working in the field of water and agriculture and non-profit organisations. Ms. Bedi has given officials 45 days to complete dredging of all canals before the onset of monsoon.
She said some of the things that went wrong are India never controlling population, allowing population to grow without building adequate infrastructure, and lack of city planning.
Ms. Bedi also hit out at the culture of freebies. “We give out things for free. We sell water. But we do not prevent flood and drought from occurring because our focus is elsewhere,” she added.
Community toilets
Blaming weak integrity of municipal services, Ms. Bedi said there was no accountability.
Speaking about the problems of open defecation, she called for building of community toilets.
Earlier, Ms. Bedi presented the Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection 2016 to David J. Bergvinson, Director-General of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The award was instituted by the Rotary Club of Madras East and Cavinkare Private Limited.
