Coimbatore : Even as the Coimbatore City Corporation has taken a policy decision to outsource drinking water distribution to Suez, a French firm, against stiff opposition from many quarters.
Coimbatore : Even as the Coimbatore City Corporation has taken a policy decision to outsource drinking water distribution to Suez, a French firm, against stiff opposition from many quarters.
A concerned citizen Anuvelantina Krishnan started a public interest petition at Change.org, the online platform for airing public grievances and garner support from like-minded people in the country to effect changes.
The petition has been widely supported by Coimbatore’s denizens who are decrying the fact that public money is being wasted over a fancy project, awarded to a French firm. The online petition on Change.org is titled ‘Save Coimbatore’s iconic Siruvani water’ and has become a rallying point for the conscientious denizens of the city who continue to oppose the contract which was gifted to the foreign firm, out of extraneous consideration.
Questioning the rationale behind awarding such a ‘big contract’ involving crores of rupees to a French firm, the petitioner asks, “When we vociferously speak of ‘Make in India,' and when the country has become a leader even in rocket technology and other sectors, where is the need for handing over the fat contract to a French firm just for laying pipelines and streamlining water distribution in city limits?” The petition also sounds an alarm bell that street taps might go out of use and the poor would be the most affected, even as the French firm has promised 24-hour water supply to households. “Eventually the downtrodden who rely on street taps for their daily water needs would be the most affected lot,” argues the petitioner with valid points supporting her appeal.
The petitioner also states that the contract might run for 26 long years, since the Corporation has cited reasons that the French company which has many patented technologies with huge investment might prevent it from going for short term contracts.
While arguing that the promised “24/7 supply in a monsoon-dependent place is not the right promise that can be kept,” the petitioner suggests that water should be saved during monsoon months and distributed during monsoon failure too. “The need of the hour is the equitable distribution of available water resources to all the sections of the population for limited daily supply hours,” points the petitioner. She has also described the contract as something of a “loot by the powers that be” and warns that it might end up as a failure in the long run.
The petition thus far has seen huge support from Coimbatore’s denizens who foresee dangers posed to the Siruvani waters, the life-source of Coimbatoreans.