The House Committee meeting of the Mysuru City Corporation on Wednesday failed to decide on whether the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) should supply water to the city or whether the corporation should manage it.
Some MLAs, who are members of the committee, favoured handing over the task to KUWSDB but senior councillors and former Mayors strongly opposed it, arguing that the corporation was capable of to managing the water supply and distribution.
MLAs M.K. Somashekar and Vasu favoured KUWSDB and said that the board should take over the task for a year and if its service was lacking the corporation should withdraw the task. Tanvir Sait, MLA, asked councillors not to antagonise the government over the issue. Mr. Sait said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was particular about handing over the supply to the board and asked the council to honour the CM’s wish.
Sandesh Swamy, former Mayor, K.T. Chaluve Gowda, leader of the ruling party, BJP councillor B.V.Manjunath, Shivakumar, Chairman of the standing committee (works), Rajeshwari, former Mayor, insisted that the corporation should be given a chance to manage the water supply and distribution. Mr. Swamy and other councillors said that it was unfortunate that some MLAs thought that the corporationwas there only to clean the city and they claimed that some corporations in other cities managed the water supply and distribution.
The corporation at a recent meeting had formed the committee to discuss and recommend the agency which it felt fit to supply water to the city. Based on the recommendation of the committee, the corporation would take a final decision in its next meeting.
Councillors torn between handing over task to KUWSDB or letting the corporation handle it