Opposing the move of the Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala to ‘privatise’ the drinking water supply, the Opposition CPI-M today said it would only result in a steep hike in the water tariff.

The Government’s recent order, which proposes to form a company for drinking water supply with 51 per cent equity for private parties, would not be allowed to be implemented in the State, CPI-M State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan told presspersons here.

The company formation would only serve the interests of private firms and result in a steep hike in water tariff thus making it inaccessible to the common people, he said.

He said the Government was blindly following the Centre’s liberalisation policy, which was for doing away with all kinds of subsidies.

The previous LDF Government had extended all support to the Kerala Water Authority, which was in a debt trap when it came to power in 2006. However, the LDF Government took up the Rs 1,600-crore debt burden of the KWA and stood as guarantor for a Nabard loan of Rs 750 crore to the Authority, he said.

The present Government’s move to privatise the sector would push the common people into misery. The CPI-M would launch an agitation to nip it in the bud, he said.

Vijayan said the CPI-M would hold area-level ‘padayatras’ from May 9 to 16 against the anti-people policies of the Centre and the State Governments. Taluk offices would be picketed from May 20 to 25 as part of the nation-wide agitation of the party against the price rise and corruption.

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