Mysuru: The pure drinking water dispensing unit next to Raitha Samparka Kendra at Varuna village in Varuna Assembly constituency is closed followed by default in payment of power bill.
The unit has been closed since a week due to the pending electricity bill to Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) The government has been spending crores of rupees on advertisement and awareness programmes about consuming pure drinking water. But here the government has spent lakhs of rupees to establish the unit but negligence of the officers has deprived the residents of pure water.
A piece of paper with the hand written notice in Kannada reading – Current bill Kattade Iruva Karana Neeru Labyavilla (Water is not available due to non-payment of electricity bill) is pasted on the glass wall of the unit for the benefit of consumers.
Varuna Prashanth a JDS leader alleged that ”the Gram Panchayat owes Rs. 56,000 towards electricity bill. The unit was installed two years ago and when there was a similar situation in the initial days, the unit was closed for three days. Now, it has yet again seen a closure for the second time. The Varuna villagers are forced to go to Chikkahalli on T Narspur road, which are about two kilometres from the village to collect water in cans.”
The constituency is represented by Dr l. Yathindra Siddaramaiah of Congress in the Assembly. It was earlier represented by Former Chief Minister and incumbent Opposition Leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah.