Deve Gowda advises govt to lift Hemavathi water for Bengaluru

'This is shameless and is a failure of the government,' he said taking potshots at the chief minister.

Blaming the Congress for the water crisis in Bengaluru, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Tuesday said water from Hemavathi river must be used for the state capital.

Addressing a news conference in Bengaluru Deve Gowda said that the people of Bengaluru had been put into trouble as the water scarcity was worsening day by day. “The prices of water tankers are skyrocketing. If the government can’t provide water from Cauvery, let it lift water from Hemavathi and supply it to Bengaluru. They are also my people and let Hemavathi water be supplied to to the villages in Hassan, Tumakuru etc,”  he said.

Taking potshots at the chief minister for convening a video conference with the deputy commissioners and Zilla Panchayat CEOs, Gowda said: “I would like to ask the chief minister, how many drought-hit districts they have toured in the last ten months. This is shameless and is a failure of the government.”

He said that the people of Bengaluru were getting water 15 days once and have been waiting for Cauvery water eagerly. If the government thinks people are happy with the guarantees, it is wrong. Water crisis has worsened across the state, he added.

Meanwhile, Gowda expressed confidence of resolving several pending issues related to Karnataka, including Cauvery dispute, if Narendra Modi is re-elected as prime minister.

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy criticised the Congress for utilising the services of Asha and Anganwadi workers for the guarantee survey. Expressing his anger on he said, “The government has constituted a Guarantee Schemes Implementation Authority a. Then what is that authority doing? Why are Asha workers doing the survey?”