Bengaluru Water Tariff Set for Increase After 12 Years, Confirms DK Shivakumar

• Water Tariff Hike Inevitable: DCM DK Shivakumar

Bengaluru:  Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar today said that the water tariff hike had become inevitable as BWSSB was finding it hard to manage its finances.

“There has been no water tariff hike in the last 12-13 years. The BWSSB is managing its finances with great difficulty. Water tariff hike is inevitable and it will be done irrespective of any opposition to it,” he said, while speaking after inaugurating the ‘Cauvery water at your doorstep’ campaign.

“It is imperative to supply water to 140 crore people of Bengaluru. It is difficult to do so without investing in larger distribution network. If the water tariff is not hiked, the BWSSB may collapse and its employees can’t be supported. The BWSSB is struggling to even pay its electricity bills. It has not been decided how much hike must be effected and which segments it should be applied to,” he explained.

Captive power generation for Bengaluru

“The electricity costs have gone up several times in the past 14 years. Hence, we are considering setting up captive power generation facility for utility companies in Bengaluru. This will involve all departments connected to Bengaluru city. It will save a lot of money for utility companies in Bengaluru,” he said.

No privatisation

“Many proposals came for privatisation of BWSSB. Adani and other companies have taken up responsibility for utilities in many cities including Mumbai. But I firmly told them that I would not allow privatisation of public utilities. There have been many proposals for privatisation of utilities even during the times of JH Patel and SM Krishna,” he said.

“SM Krishna had sent me abroad to study privatisation of water utilities in France and other countries. I came back and told SM Krishna that privatisation was not a viable option. BWSSB has excellent engineers and eventually the private firms will use the same engineers and ground staff to run the show at a higher cost. Then the privatisation proposal was rejected,” he recalled.

“As soon as I took office, we have increased supply of water by 6 MLD. We have released more than 100 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu and we can’t hold excess water currently. I am confident that we will get justice for Mekedatu balancing reservoir.

“There are proposals to bring drinking water to Bengaluru directly from KRS. We are also thinking of bringing water from Sharavathi, but there is opposition to it. Yettinahole has witnessed many twists and turns due to politicisation, but we have completed it to a certain stage,” he said.

“We have to work with Lake Development Committee to recharge ground water. More than 7,000 borewells had dried up in Bengaluru, but we managed the water crisis, thanks to the efforts of the department,” he said.

Asked if Congress was responsible for the Governor to travel in a bullet-proof car, he said, “The police has taken the precaution as miscreants from BJP and JDS may pelt his car with stones. We have information that the BJP and JDS are trying to bring bad name to the government by disturbing law and order.”

Asked about BJP’s protest against Congress for insulting Governor, he said, “People are free to criticise anyone in democracy. We respect the Governor.”