Ongole: Public doubt politicians’ commitment to resolving issues
Public filling their plastic pots from tanker supplied by RWS&S department in Timmapuram of Dornala mandal on Monday
Ongole: People from the Assembly constituencies from the water-scarce Western area of the Prakasam district are in dilemma to believe or not to believe the politicians they voted for in the future.
Public is worried that they are electing people who influenced them with money to vote but could not keep their promises.
The Yerragondapalem, Kanigiri, Markapur, Giddalur, and Darsi Assembly constituencies are short of drinking water regularly, and the Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Department supplies water through the tankers.
The demand for supply increases from 600 to 1000 trips daily as the summer intensifies every year. As the government failed to pay the bills to the contractors of the tankers for months, they announced to stop the water supply.
To appease them to continue the supply, the government released a fraction of the bills, a few months before the elections. However, the contractors resumed the supply of water but reduced the number of trips.
Meanwhile, the political parties announced their candidates for the MLA and MP constituencies in the district last December. The candidates started their groundwork and understood that they should address the drinking water issue first unless they could not enter the habitations for the campaign.
The ruling party candidates influenced the contractors to increase the trips to supply drinking water and promised to pay the bills from their own pocket. In some places, they dug the bore wells to provide drinking water to the villages.
The candidates assured that they would end the drinking water scarcity in the villages by taking up various projects, but until then they would make sure the tankers supply the water, even if they were required to pay the bills.
As per the promise, the candidates have issued advances to some of the contractors, particularly in the villages where the government fails to meet the demand. However, after the completion of the elections, the candidates stopped responding to the public and the contractors.
The RWS&S department supplied 8 tankers of water to Chennareddypalli in Tarlupadu mandal on May 10, but the number of tankers increased to 23 by May 18. Similarly, it supplied 0 trips to Rayavaram in Markapuram mandal and Ganugapenta in Tarlupadu mandal on May 10, but the trips increased to 18 and 11 by May 18.
The number of trips increased to 12 from 6 in P Nagulavaram of Markapuram when compared with before and after the elections. The demand for water tankers by the government increased in many habitations from 791 to 974 between May 10 and May 18, and the stopping of the water tankers’ by the politicians after the elections is one of the reasons.