Protestors slam hike in water cess

Activists of Mysore-Madikeri Lok Sabha Constituency Congress Committee staged a demonstration in front of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) here on Monday protesting the hike in water cess.

Slamming the MCC for the five-fold increase in water cess, the activists distributed drinking water at a cost of one rupee and provided buttermilk to passers-by. They later donated the collections through water distributed to MCC.

While the MCC has failed to provide regular drinking water supply to the city, it has increased the water cess by five times. While people are already suffering due to inflation, the move by MCC would further affect the city residents, the protestors said.

Terming the hike as unscientific, the activists demanded MCC to rollback the increased tariff. They said the central government has released Rs 310 crore and Rs 160 crore has remained unutilised. Even though the central government has stated that water cess shouldn’t be increased for two years, MCC has flouted all rules and is imposing hefty cess on the public.

Committee general secretary P N Chetan, Youth Congress vice-president Prashanth Gowda, G Srinath Babu, Ajay Shastry, Nagendra Prasad, Naveen Appugowda, Rajesh and others were present.