‘Water summit good only for corporate interests’

The Peoples’ Campaign for Right to Water (PCRW) has asked the government to disassociate itself from the water summit to be held in Bangalore on February 1
PCRW-Karnataka’s spokesperson Kshitij Urs said: “The summit is to celebrate the corporate model for procuring and supplying water in the state.”
The summit is said to bring together investors, technocrats and entrepreneurs to generate ideas on water security.
“The summit will bring together a strong contingent of who’s who in the water business, including water company CEOs, pro-privatisation academicians, and bankers from World Bank and Asian Development Bank and bureaucrats as Karnataka is projected as the water privatisation gateway for the developing world,” Urs said.
“We demand the state government to make its stand clear against water privatisation and remove Dr A Ravindra from the post of advisor to chief minister as he has, by helping organise this summit, proved to be serving private interests. We also want the government to withdraw financial and administrative support to the summit,” he said. “Water is a basic human right and is not a commercial product. We have to make sure that our rights are protected,” he added.