AERIAL VIEW
Well, Rs 850 / litre of water is not something new, and those who follow cricket and football will know that the famous stars Virat Kohli and Cristiano Ronaldo drink water which is over Rs 600 per litre. The water is specially imported from France.
Of Course, Kohli and Ronaldo pay from their own pocket, and neither the BCCI nor Ronaldo’s club pays for the huge water bill. There may be some sponsors but definitely not the government.
Now the question here arises who foots Amit Shah’s water bill? At an average of Rs 2550 / day (for three litres of water), his monthly water bill itself is around Rs 80,000 and around Rs 10,00,000 a year. How can a union minister getting a salary of Rs 2 lakh to afford a water bill of Rs 80,000 per month? The one question above speaks volumes and is self-explanatory about the administration and needs no further explanation or details.
On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik, knowingly or unknowingly, made a shocking revelation about how the high and mighty splurge money at the expense of the exchequer while the tax-paying Janata is left thirsty.
Ravi, known for his sarcastic statements, yesterday, while trying to convince the people that water is precious, made a joke of himself and so also the Home Minister of India, Mr Amit Shah.
He said that water will be so precious in future that its price will be equivalent to gold. Giving an example, he said when the Home Ministre Amit Shah came to Goa, the BJP or the Government had to serve him Rs 850 / litre water bottle. He also went on to say that if we do proper water harvesting, we can export water to Arab countries and get oil in exchange.
Well, Rs 850 / litre of water is not something new, and those who follow cricket and football will know that the famous stars Virat Kohli and Cristiano Ronaldo drink water which is over Rs 600 per litre. The water is specially imported from France.
Of Course, Kohli and Ronaldo pay from their own pocket, and neither the BCCI nor Ronaldo’s club pays for the huge water bill. There may be some sponsors but definitely not the government.
Now the question here arises who foots Amit Shah’s water bill? At an average of Rs 2550 / day (for three litres of water), his monthly water bill itself is around Rs 80,000 and around Rs 10,00,000 a year. How can a union minister getting a salary of Rs 2 lakh to afford a water bill of Rs 80,000 per month? The one question above speaks volumes and is self-explanatory about the administration and needs no further explanation or details.
Coming back to Goa, the Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, the Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik, and the WRD Minister Subash Shirodkar, if the government can give Rs 850/ litre of water to Amit Shah, why not Rs 3/litre trap water for the people who pay the taxes through their nose? Don’t you guys have any obligation towards the people of Goa?
In this scorching heat and unseasonal rains, continuous power failures hamper the water supply from the main water treatment plants. Why can’t we have proper generators, which cost only a few lakhs, for these plants so that no electricity is cut to the water plants?
Mr Ravi Naik’s initiative for promoting water harvesting is a good one; leave aside the memes, but Mr Naik, the water harvesting has to be done for the people of Goa who are left thirsting in this scorching heat and proper support and awareness has to come from government.
The minister talks about exporting water to Arab countries in exchange for water, but Mr Naik, have you gone to hinterland places like Sanguem, Quepem, Canacona and Sattari? The women walk for kilometres to get water.
The bigger issue is that the politicians we have voted for don’t even know that people face water shortage and make claims like Har Ghar Jal and 24×7 water supply.
The CM and PWD Minister must go to such places and find out what the reality is.
The problem of Goa and our country is the rich and mighty can afford to drink Rs 850-litre water, but poor Janata cannot get a drop.