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| Massive
petition against proposed water bill Spokesman Sarath Fernando said the innocently worded bill was a subtle move to privatise water services in a manner that would deny several hundred thousand people access to clean tap water and plunge them deeper into poverty. He said similar World Bank/IMF strategies enforced in countries like Philippines and Indonesia had not alleviated but accelerated poverty. Mr. Fernando said the Alliance and other groups were hoping to collect upto one million signatures for a petition against the proposed water bill which they feared would cause drowning of thousands of poor people. The Alliance and other environmental groups said the authorities and market economic strategists were not tackling the roots of water wastage but were looking at symptoms and trying to penalise the poor masses. The group said industrial pollution of rivers and canals was ruining millions of litres of water, but the market strategists appeared to be concerned mainly with road taps and other minor outlets. Mr. Fernando also charged that another hidden agenda in the proposed privatisation of water services was to force lakhs of farmers to give up their fields and come to urban areas as cheap labour slaves for transnational companies. He said eventually the water reforms bill would lead to a high price for irrigation facilities and farmers unable to pay it would be driven out. |
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