Mangaluru: Senior BJP leader and former deputy CM K S Eshwarappa held a press meet at the district BJP Office, Kodialbail here, on April 12.
Addressing the mediapersons Eshwarappa said, “The state is facing severe drought and the BJP has set up twelve teams to survey the state. I had personally visited Kinnigoli and Mulki to evaluate the situation. A drinking water plant was to be set up in this region and the construction work was started in the year 2009 for the same, but the project has not completed till date. This shows the lethargic behaviour of the government towards the drinking water issue. The Multi Village Water Supply Scheme which took roots in 2001 is yet to be completed. Other schemes can wait, but water-related schemes should be given top priority.”
He said that during the election propaganda, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, H K Patil had promised to set up 7000 units to supply drinking water by March 2016, but he has failed to deliver on his promise. “303 drinking water units were to be built in the state, but as of now only 77 are built. Rs 2500 crore payment for the contractors is still pending. The leaders are not touring the drought affected areas to analyse the situation. If they had been there, they would know that the cattle are dying and people are suffering,” he said.
Eshwarappa further said that 136 Taluks in the state were affected. He said, “During the BJP rule, we had sanctioned Rs 1540 crore towards the crop loss. But now we are receiving funds only from the central government while the state government is not at all bothered. All the District Minister In-charges should survey the situation in their respective districts and submit the report to the government.”
“When the projects are not completed in time, no action is taken against the contractors. They are not even blacklisted and hence they continue to function. The state government has failed utterly to protect the interests of the public and we have no expectations from them,” he added.
MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary, DK BJP President, Pratap Simha Nayak, former MLA Yogesh Bhat and others were also present.
