Politicos Sanjay Nirupam of Congress, Prakash Javadekar of BJP, and Mohammed Salim of Left shared their concerns over the grim situation of power, roads and water in the country. Speaking at Bharat Bhagya Vidhata `India Ka Agenda` show to be aired today@ Zee News at 10 pm, they collectively stressed upon making ‘Bijli’, ‘Sadak’ and ‘Paani’ (BSP), the basic amenities, as core demand of their party manifestos.
Zee Research Group/ Delhi
If senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam is to be believed his party will provide right to water and electricity if it comes to power in 2014. On Zee Media’s Bharat Bhagya Vidhata (BBV) Nirupam said, “We have given right to employment, education, information and we will guarantee the right to water and electricity if comes to power in 2014.”
As per the latest report by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), 55 per cent of the wells in India have registered declining trend of ground water level. Further, India has about 16 per cent of the world’s population as compared to only 4 per cent of its water resources. “The ground water level in India has recorded a continual decline,” lamented Nirupam.
Magsaysay Rajendra Singh, also known as the waterman of India, demanded the democratization of water. Singh told BBV, “Today, we are struggling with water crisis even though we were first in the world to conserve water. This is really disturbing.” He also pitched on saving the drying rivers of India. This should be the main issue in the manifestos of parties.
Even, Mohammed Salim, CPI (M) leader and Prakash Javadekar, BJP leader opposed the idea of water privatization. While Salim admitted that lack of decision making is responsible for the crisis, Javadekar promised to bring in a strong policy which will provide pure water to everyone.
Promising to seek vote on the basis of schemes inclined towards these issues, Javadekar blamed Coalgate scam for rise in electricity prices across the country. “Power generation capacity has increased after the Electricity Act, 2003 was initiated during the NDA government. Some BJP ruled states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa have 24 hour power supply,” stressed Javadekar.
Nirupam rejected the fact of 24 hour power supply in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. He argued, “In Gujarat, more than 40 per cent of villages do not have power supply. Moreover, in rural parts of MP, people don’t get electricity for more than eight hours.” Further, he doesn’t rule out the possibility of leakages in the implementation of various central schemes at the local level.
However, it remains a main issue that why people don’t vote on the basis of these issues.
Salim believed it is because voters in our country decide their representative on the basis of emotions, caste and creed and not on other factors. Likewise, Singh also pitched for a change in the system. “Democratic values are falling in our country which is a disturbing sign,” added Singh.
While talking about the development of roads in the country, Javadekar took credit of building roads in rural areas during NDA regime, Nirupam admitted the gap in achieving the target which was set at 20 km per day. However, he promised to work towards achieving the set target.
(IKA show airs on Saturday @ 10pm)
