It is a known fact that Bundelkhand is also one of the places in the country, where water scarcity had been at alarming levels over decades. Unlike the water scarcity problem of Maharashtra, where the ground water was exploited to such an extent that left the earth in thirst, The water problem of Bundelkhand was mostly caused by successive failures of rains in the region.
Everyone, including (even) Rahul Gandhi acknowledges the problem in Bundelkhand. What the successive Governments have done in the last one decade, when the water problem was increasing continuously? One should have the brains of Einstein to find the answer to this question.
One fine day, the Union Government sends a train to be used to transport water across places. Simply put, this could be used to distribute water.
Now, the CM, who otherwise forgot that Bundelkhand is in the same state that he rules woke up from amnesia and rejected the offer of the Union Government?
The reason: UP needs road tankers to distribute water to remote villages, not trains. Good! The state government had at least assessed what is needed to quench the thirst of people across villages in Bundelkhand.
The foreign returned CM immediately tweeted requesting the centre to provide him with 10000 tankers for water distribution.
https://twitter.com/CMOfficeUP/status/728130575085633536
What followed later was a series of tweets. Few samples:
https://twitter.com/UPGovt/status/728143363283673088
https://twitter.com/UPGovt/status/728144276593336324
https://twitter.com/UPGovt/status/728147967203414017
Here comes the interesting one. CM of UP had retweeted a tweet by one Mr Pankaj Jha in which Jhaji informs that UP government had already sanctioned 400 tankers for water distribution. Well, the fact that Mr Pankaj Jha is editor of ABP news and the tweet was in his personal capacity may or may not have a bearing on the topic. It is left to the reader to infer the way he or he felt. I don’t want to dwell on the topic. He may be genuinely reminding the CM what action the state government had already taken.
UP govt Has already sanctioned more than 400 tankers for water distribution https://t.co/A0Ioatp6ns
— पंकज झा (@pankajjha_) May 5, 2016
However, what surprises me is the FACT. What sanctioned means? Budget approved? Order placed for new tankers? Contract signed for water distribution by tankers over road? Are they functioning? If not, when they will function? So many questions. God knows what the answers are!
However, the glaring fact is the inadequacy of the numbers. After suffering from drought for a decade, the state government has only 4% of tankers it needed. Well, that talks about a lot about the planning and execution capabilities of successive governments that ruled and ruling the state. [In fact, their capabilities pale in front of Shared Power & Co., of Maharashtra, who welcome the water trains only to ensure a scam in water distribution. Alas, they are poor in making business decisions. They do scams worth few crores and feel they looted the world. This, even after such a good acquaintance with the first family of congress! Poor learners.]
With the money she spent on installing elephants, Mayawati could have easily bought at least few thousand tankers. With the money the Yadav clan had spent on Safai Mahotsav, wherein ex(r)otic are performed by Bollywood damsels, Akhilesh Yadav could have bought even twenty thousand tankers. But, they choose not to! Why? I hope, Arvind Kejriwal would write to the Governor of UP to find out the reasons why they have not bought tankers and spent the money instead on elephants and Mujras.
The Australia educated CM could not put an infrastructure in place, even after four years in the office shows how seriously they consider the situation. Compare this with the politicians of Tamil Nadu, where another set of old man and old lady fight (over decades) more ferociously. Still, both DMK and AIDMK governments have ensured that water tables in the city and surroundings have gone up in the last one half decade. [Don’t read too much into it that increased water table caused Chennai floods. Floods were a result of poor urban planning].
The way Akhilesh tweeted many reservoirs overflowing and claiming there is sufficient water available in the Bundelkhand region, but distribution infrastructure is lacking makes him a more serious criminal. If there was no water in Bundelkhand, he couldn’t have been blamed. But, if he couldn’t distribute the water that is available, it is pure incompetence on his part!
Tweeting officials visiting reservoirs and inspecting few water ponds is not called governance. That too, when the CM had to announce Rs. 5 Lacs as in gratia compensation to a poor person died of starvation.
http://www.thehindu.com/…/man-dies-of-st…/article8560469.ece
Of course, the CM denied that the man had died of starvation. However, after the water tanker episode and the starvation death, Akhilesh Yadav only became second to Arvind Kejriwal in proving that education nowadays could not provide common sense and is a necessary qualification to enter politics. In fact, they are pushing the case of Rahul Gandhi, by being equally ….. I don’t want to comment further.
