BANGALORE: As a sign of protest against rampant privatisation and commercialisation of water, activists from across the city tore the copies of the National Water Policy 2012. Alleging that the policy is ‘anti-people’, the activists of the Peoples’ Campaign for Right to Water, Karnataka, raised concerns about it.
“The suggested policy prioritises water for industries and even agriculture sector would be deprived of water. They have commodified water, which has become an economic good. They have showed respect even to the 74th Amendment of delivering basic need,” said Rajendran Prabhakar from Peoples’ Campaign for Right to Water.
B T Lalitha Naik, former minister, said that the water policy proposes to create water regulating authority.
“This authority would never work considering the present centre-state relations,” she said.
Threatening to lead a state-wide protest if the government pursues privatisation of water, State president of Samatha Sainika Dal M Venkatswamy said, “the government would be toppled if it tries to pursue privatisation of water. People from all over the state will go on protest against this move.”
Participating in the protest at Town Hall, social activists like Marula Siddappa, Banjagere Jayaprakash and Nandini claimed that the issue was serious and a little probe into this move would reveal all. “Privatisation is not confined to water alone. The agenda is much larger,” writer and social activist Marula Siddappa said.