Water plants scam: Punish the guilty

It is a matter of utter disgust that bureaucratic callousness and possibly corruption have come in the way of providing potable water, a basic need of the people, in several parts of Karnataka. A study commissioned by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department has revealed that 33% of the nearly 19,000 water purification plants installed across rural Karnataka are non-functional. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who described this as a “big scam” in the Assembly following numerous complaints by MLAs, has agreed to order a probe and has requested the Speaker to constitute a joint legislature committee for the purpose. In some districts, official records were fudged to show 23% to 47% of defunct plants as functional. In other places, it was found that the plant had not even been installed. Ironically, in the dry districts of Yadgir, Dharwad, Kalaburagi and Bidar, 44% to 69% of the plants are not in operation. The only silver lining is that 95% of the respondents found the quality of water to be good.

A majority of plants were shut down due to absence of maintenance while the other reasons included drying up of water sources, low sales, more than one plant in the vicinity, no designated operator and vandalism. It appears that one of the main reasons for the current state of affairs is the failure of the vendor who set up the units to carry out regular maintenance as per the terms of the agreement. While the government should take steps to recharge water sources which have gone dry and encourage rainwater harvesting even in rural areas, it should also act against vendors who have breached their contractual obligations. Officers at the lower level who failed to act though the plants were not operational for six months, should also face action. The government should hold the chief executive officers of zilla panchayats personally responsible for this serious lapse.

However, this might not warrant an investigation by a joint legislature committee, as such inquiries are time-consuming, expensive and often do not serve any tangible purpose. Now that the problem areas and deficiencies have been identified by the study, all that is required is to fix responsibility and to initiate action. An inquiry by a senior IAS officer will suffice. There are also reports that corruption charges are being raised to get even with H K Patil during whose term as RDPR Minister in the previous regime these plants were installed. While the guilty, if any, should be punished, this should not end up in a political slugfest, leaving the people who have been denied water, further in the lurch.