BJP alleges that officials had provided Anjaneya with wrong statistics
Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged a dharna in the well of the Upper House on Monday expressing dissatisfaction over the response of Minister for Social Welfare H. Anjaneya on the issue of drilling borewells under the Ganga Kalyana Scheme.
Replying to BJP member Y.A. Narayanaswamy, Mr. Anjaneya claimed that all 26,040 borewells drilled under the scheme had yielded satisfactory amounts of water.
Mr. Narayanaswamy wondered how all the borewells had yielded water when the State’s groundwater table had been depleting. He alleged that officials had provided the Minister with wrong statistics and demanded that the reply be withdrawn or the issue be investigated.
Leader of the Legislative Council S.R. Patil said “not a pie” could be given to “unsuccesssful” borewells (those that don’t yield water). Mr. Anjaneya agreed that persons availing of the scheme could get money only if the borewell yielded water since the scheme worked under a “no water, no money” basis.
While Opposition leader K.S. Eshwarappa demanded that a House committee be set up to investigate the issue, the Minister said he would order a third-party inspection. When the Opposition insisted on the House committee, the Minister refused. Commotion followed and the Opposition trooped into the well of the House.
They sought the exact number of borewells that had not yielded water. Mr. Anjaneya sought more time to gather details on the scheme. The Opposition withdrew the dharna after the Congress agreed to provide a “revised reply”.
