The Hindu : Karnataka News : Water scarcity becomes a major poll issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 26, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Water scarcity becomes a major poll issue

By M. Madan Mohan

HUBLI, APRIL 25. The days are hot and the summer rains are elusive. Water and fodder are getting more and more scarce. The people have no work on the fields or under drought-relief schemes. Some have left the villages in search of work. The political parties are campaigning unmindful of the plight of the people. However, the people in the interior areas are confronting them with their problems. The heat is on the members of the dissolved Assembly in particular.

This is the scenario on the eve of the elections in Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri districts, which have 18 Assembly seats. Dharwad has seven seats, Gadag five and Haveri six. Barring Ron and Mundargi in Gadag, other segments are going to the polls in the second phase.

In Hubli city, people are confronting Jabbar Khan Honnalli, who is seeking a second term, with the acute drinking water shortage in the city. Mr. Honnalli is the President of the Hubli-Dharwad Corporation District Congress Committee. The people, especially women, carrying empty plastic pots ask Mr. Honnalli why he did not visit them earlier.

The Mayor, Anil Kumar Patil, who has been fielded against the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Jagadish Shettar, in Hubli Rural is also facing such questions. Water is being supplied in the twin cities once in 10 to 12 days. Mr. Patil is promising water once in two days if voted to power.

The Minister of State for Forests, K.N. Gaddi, who is seeking a third term from Navalgund, has to account for his roles as legislator and the district in-charge Minister. He has not been allowed to enter some villages in the taluk where drinking water shortage is getting acute.

The farmers, who waged an agitation demanding crop insurance, say that their plight was worsened by the indifference of the Minister. "You sent us to jails when we asked for crop insurance," they tell him. Mr. Gaddi was ticked off by none other than the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President, B. Janardhana Poojary, some time ago for laxity in supervising drought-relief works.

Shivanand Ambadagatti in Dharwad Rural and Shivalli of Kundgol, members of the dissolved Assembly, also have to answer uncomfortable questions from voters. Both won in 1999 as independents and joined the Congress. While the Congress has given the ticket to Mr. Ambadagatti, Mr. Shivalli has not got it and is contesting as independent.

B.R. Yavagal, the Congress candidate in Nargund in Gadag district, has been caught in the controversy over what is termed the failure of the State Government to expedite the Kalasa Bandori nala scheme for diverting the waters of the Mahadayi to the Malaprabha Reservoir.

The chairman of the action committee formed in support of the demand for expediting the work is the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate.

The situation is no different for the Minister of State for Rural Drinking Water and Haveri district in-charge, K.B. Koliwad, who is contesting in Ranebennur, Manohar Tahsildar in Hangal, Syed Ajjampeer Quadri in Shiggaon, Basavaraj Shivannavar in Haveri, Rudrappa Lamani in Byadgi and B.H. Bannikod in Hirekerur. Mr. Quadri and Mr. Shivannavar, who was elected on the Janata Dal (S) ticket in 1999, and Mr. Bannikod, who won as an independent then, joined the Congress later and are contesting on the party ticket now.

The charge against Mr. Koliwad is that he had neglected his constituency and the district. He is accused of not prevailing upon the State Government to expedite the work on the Upper Tunga Project. He has been accused of giving promises rather than helping the growth of the new district, which still lacks many amenities. His inaction when the district witnessed communal tensions has also come in for criticism.

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