Mangalore: Provide 135 litres of free water to every person, urges campaign
 
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (NM)
 
Mangalore, Jan 19: Citizens Forum for Mangalore Development and People’s Campaign for Right to Water, Karnataka, launched, ‘Namma Neeru’ campaign in front of the DC’s office on Saturday January 18, against privatization of water.

It was part of a month-long campaign across the state of Karnataka. In Mangalore, students led by activist Vidya Dinkar raised slogans against the practice of water privatization and later collected signatures from the people which they said will be presented to the chief minister in a public event in February to demonstrate firm opposition to privatization.
 
The demand of the campaign is to stop water privatization in all its forms in Karnataka, enact a new law to provide water security to all the residents of the state, provide 135 liters of free water per person per day, strengthen public water institutions, and democratize their functioning.
 
Rakesh Kadri of People’s Campaign for Right to Water, Karnataka, said, “We will collect at least one lac signatures of people to show our opposition. Water is a basic right and it should be given freely.”
 
The campaign included meaningful songs from the troupe ‘Tharikita Jagrathi Thunda’, Bantwal, led by Uday Kumar, Jyothigudde, which highlighted the seriousness of water privatization. The song, ‘Neerige Banthu Bara’, said that it is the middle and poor class people who suffer from water privatization.