The CPI activists staged a dharna in front of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) office here on Thursday demanding free supply of drinking water onlines of scheme being implemented in Delhi.
CPI city secretary Donepudi Sankar said that the Delhi government was giving a grant of Rs. 1,500 crore to Delhi Jal Board to provide free drinking water to the people. The State government should take a cue from it and extend similar scheme in the State, he said.
The water supply, unfortunately in the State, is considered as a revenue spinner. There were 1.41 lakh water connections in the city. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has levied a burden of Rs. 30 crore on the plea that operation and maintenance costs went up. The Below Poverty Line (BPL) families have to shell out Rs. 75 now while it was Rs.50 few months ago; it was just Rs. 80 per connection for Above Poverty Line (APL) families, and now they have to pay anywhere between Rs. 125 to Rs. 500, he pointed out.
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The inefficiency of Corporation officials was resulting in wastage of 50 percent drinking water due to leakages and lapses in supply network. The VMC could bring down the O&M if these fallacies were addressed, he said, adding, the water would be supplied free of cost if the Communists were voted to power in the city.
Another dharna was staged on Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) road in protest against the steep hike in price of LPG cylinder and also linking of supply of subsidised cylinder with Cash Transfer Scheme (CTS) and Aadhar cards.
The CPI activists raised slogans demanding the government to slash the price of LPG cylinders.
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The common man was over burdened with the rise in cylinder prices. The linking of CTS with subsidised cylinder was also not being implemented properly, they said. CPI leader Navaneetam Sambasiva Rao was present.