MINISTER HITS OUT AT CONG OVER WATER TARIFF HIKE AGITATIONS

BJP leader and Rajasthan social justice minister Arun Chaturvedi on Sunday said that agitations being launched by the Congress were “face saving exercise” and PCC chief Sachin Pilot and his party have no connect with the people.

“The Congress recently launched ‘matka phodo’ agitation (to protest water tariff hike). Water was a big issue during the Congress regime and they had spent ₹12,225 crore in five years on water projects, while BJP government has spent ₹20,000 crore (on water projects) in the past four years,” Chaturvedi said.

Explaining the reasons for the hike, the minister said, “JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) had refused to grant further loans unless the previous loan repayment was completed. We were left with no option, as Rajasthan has 10% of country’s population, but only 1.33% of water reserves. The government then decided to carry out annual water tariff hike, but the hike was done only in 2017. The funds were used for different water augmentation schemes,” he said.

The state government has hiked the water tariff by 10% with effect from April 1, 2018, for the second consecutive year. This year, the public health and engineering department (PHED) has increased water tariff for consumers using water supplied from PHED sources up to 8,000 litre per month. Consumers will now have to pay ~1.89/ 1,000 litre instead of existing rate of ~1.76/ 1,000 litre. Last year, there was no rise in water tariff on consumers using water supplied from PHED sources up to 8,000 litre per month. Chaturvedi also attacked Pilot for his comments on BJP’s Jan Samvaad (public dialogue) programme. “Pilot has termed it as a dhoka (betrayal). It seems our unique programmes to connect with the people are causing heartburn in Congress. The fact is that Sachin Pilot and his party have lost connect with the people,” he said. Chaturvedi then listed out the BJP government’s achievements in the past four years and compared it with the Gehlot regime of 2008-2013.

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