Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SS)

Thursday, May 25: With Udupi reeling under shortage of drinking water, district BJP on Thursday May 25 came down heavily on district in-charge minister Pramod Madhwaraj, alleging that 'politics' was being done in the he supply of drinking water.

Addressing a press meet at the town BJP office here, district BJP president Mattar Rathnakar Hegde said, "District- in-charge minister Pramod Madhwaraj has infringed etiquettes, there is politics being done in drinking water supply, illegal sand mafia is happening, wrong information is doing rounds about the funds released by the central government.

"Udupi has been declared as a drought-hit area for the first time in its history, which is disappointing. For supply of drinking water in Udupi, the central government has made a task force presided over by local ministers and released funds. The irony is that in the Udupi constituency, the district in-charge minister has put banners with his pictures on the water supply tankers, like he is supplying water with his own money. This is shameful," he said.

Sand Mafia

There is illegal sand mafia happening in Udupi. Trucks containing sand move around all night and each truck load of sand costs Rs 15,000. There is a lot of sand filled in Baje dam's Swarna river, hence the municipality has called for an unscientific tender, which lacks clarity. A sand mafia organization is behind the desilting activity. This involves the district in-charge minister’s direct interference, said the president.

Central Government Programmes

He also mentioned that several programmes have been implemented through the funds released by the Central government, but the in-charge minister has been potraying that all those are the state government programmes and thus ignoring the central government.

Hegde expressed concern over the fact that although more than seventy per cent of the districts’ gram panchayaths comprise of BJP supporters, the district in-charge minister has been ignoring and side-lining them.

Various funds released by the central government were also mentioned as follows: CRF amount Rs 52 crore has been released to Udupi constituency, Sakhi one-stop center is under construction, Rs 20 crore funds released for development and repair of National Highways 169, 169A, 173 and 234 that run through the district, Rs 10 crore for fisheries development under the National Fishing Development Corporation, free skill-training for the youth of Nitte, Kundapur and Kaup under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushalya Yojana, Rs 7.75 crore released under the RUSA Yojana for the district’s government first-grade colleges.

Former MLA of Udupi K Raghupati Bhat was also present. Speaking on the same lines, he said, "The municipality officials and the district in-charge minister should be held responsible for the prevailing water crisis in the district. The reason for the shortage is silt filled in the rivers. The BJP has been asking them to carry out desilting since 2014, but they never heard us. Now, they have called for a tender. If they had listened to us and done the de-silting, we could have stocked water needed for at least 45 days more. But since the extra water could not be stocked, we are facing month-long water shortage now."

MLC Kota Shrinivas Poojary, town BJP president Prabhakar Poojary, BJP Yuva Morcha president Shreesha Nayak, district secretary Praveen Kumar Shetty, BJP town secretary Jagadish Acharya, among others were present.