‘Privatisation no solution to tackle water shortage in City
'Privatisation alone cannot solve the problems of water supply in Bangalore as the corporates are profit oriented and lack social conscience.With water being one of the most essential necessities for life, the poorer sections of the society would find it extremely difficult to cope,' said Dr Rajashekhara Murthy, a scientist specialising in environmental sciences, from Canada.
He was speaking at a seminar held at the Institute of Engineers on Sunday, discussing the issue of privatisation of water and elaborating on some of the apt needed solutions for tackling the water problems in Bangalore.
Disastrous consequence
With lobbyist’s from the pro and anti-privatisation group having voiced their concerns in the past few years, Dr Murthy said that privatisation of water would result in the price of water escalating and leading to disastrous consequences as seen in developing countries in Latin America where the people had to shell out 20 per cent of their income on water.
There needs to be a social side to privatisation as seen in some of the western countries. In England for instance, he said that, if a consumer cannot afford to pay the water bill, the government foots the bill on his behalf or compensates the company, but the firm cannot stop the water supply due to non payment.
He was critical in his talk regarding indian politicians and administrators and said that there seems to be no political will despite the warnings given by world organisations such as th UN.
“The government’s inability to tackle the issue despite available resources and technology seems pathetic” he said.
In regards to Bangalore, he said that Waste Water Treatment would be the best policy for the government and should be implemented quickly. Other measures such as Rain water Harvesting is no doubt good but is just remedial in its approach, he said.
