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Delhi Residents Rally Against Water Privatization
The Hindu
October 18, 2005
NEW DELHI: After tasting success in their campaign against mounting
power charges, Delhiites are now gearing up for a "long battle" with
the Delhi Government to force it to shelve its World Bank-aided water
privatisation plan. The "civil disobedience movement" will begin with
citizens refusing to pay water bills from November 1 and holding protest
rallies "exposing the Government's faulty plans in the name of improving
the city's water situation". The first salvo was fired on Monday when
several residents' welfare associations and social groups along with
eminent personalities gathered under the banner of Right to Water
Campaign at a "Public Hearing (Jansunwai) on 24x7 (proposed water
project in South Delhi)" pledging that they would not allow the Government
to privatise water distribution with its "drastic and lasting implications"
for the citizens.
The "jansunwai" participants included distinguished author Arundhati
Roy; retired Supreme Court judges S. C. Aggarwal and D. P. Wadhwa.Terming
the movement as a big fight towards people's right to water, Arundhati
Roy said: "History proves that private companies are only concerned
about their profits and least bothered about people's welfare. Privatisation
of water will not be a good experience for Delhi, as it has been proved
in similar cases in other cities the world over.''
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