Mangalore: Citizens’ Forum, represented by Kiran and Joy, Vidyadinakar and S P Ramesh conducted a protest rally of college students who are against privatization of drinking water and their sources in the state and carried out a program of collecting 1 lakh signatures against privatizations of water and presenting the list to the state Govt. to prevent private control over resources of water at large such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, tanks and ponds were rain water collects during Mansoon and such water is used by common people for drinking, washing, and for agriculture and other purposes. The speakers of the day in the civic movement for water protection raise the issue has to high drinking water should be sold by a commercial company to its customers at whatever rates these business companies may charge after occupying any water resource any were in the state.

The private companies, the speakers are gives will not give drinking water free of cost or for a chief rate in open markets. Their trick is to treat water as a value added commodity brought from a source of nature to the doors of common citizens who then pay exorbitant prices for such water as tanker machines do in summer.

There is a case of Shanthamma of Belgaum, who received huge bills for payment of water supply to her in a month and she could not pay the amounts shown in the bills of a private company that had taken over the civic water supply. In Mangalore the water is supplied by city corporation (MCC) from Netravati River at Tumbe Lifting Station and the bills sent to hotels and hospitals, colleges and homes are reasonable but not hefty. If the amounts shown in the bills were to be heavy, no citizen would ever pay them but join with the citizen’s forum in a movement collecting lakhs of signatures against MCC as if it is a private company charging high rates for transferring water from Tumbey to urban areas by pipe lines.

That is the different of water4 distribution by a state body or an elected corporation and a private business company the deals with water as if it is hardware or software the speakers emphasized that water is meant for the public use of all citizens and the nature has given us water and air freely and in bountiful ways, unlike electricity created out of water or coal is charged by the state board like MESCOM. The water has to be n free supply given by their state Govt. in a democracy and no private business company, local or international can be assigned such a heavy work and responsibility to supply water to all citizens, poor or middle class, educated or uneducated when they happen to be voters who form the state Govt. or the national Govt. in India.

The Indian constitution as given the rights to use water as a free commodity like the nature which brings rains and an elected Govt. cannot go against its own people in matters of water, air or any natural wealth.

Hundreds of students have joined the movement to keep water outside private business and as a citizen’s right to have it.