PUDUCHERRY: With her remarks on the Tamil Nadu water crisis sparking a storm, Lt Governor Kiran Bedi defended herself stating that it was the “people’s perspective” which came in the form of “a question and an answer”. I have shared ‘people’s perception’, she said. Those who did not connect with her did not get to know the background and spirit of this (her remarks), said Bedi. “This is not my personal view. It is the people’s view. Hence there is nothing personal in this”, she said adding that it helps to know what people are saying. “It is for any of us to agree or disagree with it”, she said.
Therefore the remarks need to be respected and it should be reflected upon if anything better could have been done than what was done to prevent such large scale suffering. It always helps the administration to know, as government is to serve the people and address their suffering, she said.
As Puducherry is intermittent with Tamil Nadu, all cleaning of canals in Puducherry included areas of Tamil Nadu as well. No distinction was made as Puducherry cared for Tamil Nadu. Being contiguous, TN and Puducherry share underground water and aquifers and hence the serious concerns as failures in Tamil Nadu can seriously impact Puducherry and vice a versa, justified Bedi.
In fact last year, Puducherry could only save rainwater. It received no water from TN dams as they could not release any due to deficient rain. Had Puducherry not desilted its canals and saved rainwater, Puducherry would have also been in serious crisis like Tamil Nadu today, said Bedi.
That is the reason behind people asking who all failed them. “We need to work together. I m happy to see the latest instructions given by TN government to all public officials to engage with people and NGOs and get work done. Also, NGOs are also taking up the adoption of water bodies, as they did here, without any exchange of money between them and the government. They paid the service providers directly”, she said. Canals cleaned by the UT also benefitted Tamil Nadu, she said.