Mysuru: Drinking water plant closed due to power bill default

Mysuru: The purified drinking water dispensing unit at Varuna village in Varuna Assembly constituency has been closed for a week following non-payment of electricity bill to the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC).

The government spends crores of rupees on advertisement and awareness programmes to educate people to consume pure drinking water. It has also spent lakhs of rupees to establish the water dispensing unit but negligence of officials has deprived the villagers of access to pure water.

A 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.

Varuna Prashanth, a JDS leader, said that the Grama 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 been closed for the second time.

The villagers are forced to go to Chikkahalli on T Narspur road, two km away from Varuna, to fetch water in cans. The constituency is represented by Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah of Congress in the Assembly. It was earlier represented by his father and former chief minister Siddaramaiah.