‘Jusco should be fined for contaminated water’

The People’s Campaign for Right to Water on Thursday demanded that the state government cancel the contract given to Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company (Jusco) to supply water in Mysore and levy a fine for providing contaminated water.

Organisation convenor MR Prabhakar said that the Tata Steel subsidiary had failed to provide safe drinking water in Mysore, leading to an outbreak of typhoid and cholera.

Despite public outcry, the government withdrew Jusco’s services for just two months and handed it over to a task force consisting of MLAs. This only shows BJP government’s lack of political will, he said.

From 2009-12, Jusco has failed to provide water to the public. “The government should direct the company to return the funds and penalise it for non-performance. Even though the scheme is a public-private partnership, which was sponsored by JNNURM, the company has not spent a single rupee. The company does not have any knowledge or expertise in water supply, so they are hiring the officers from Vani Vilas Water works on deputation,” Prabhakar said.

Water resources belong to the people and it cannot be either privatised or commercialised. Water belongs to people and the state is a custodian and not the owner of the commons, he added.
Organisation member Vinay said the BJP government should not play tricks with the people by withdrawing Jusco for only two months.