Mangaluru, May 01, 2019: Former MLA J R Lobo has declared that he will quit politics if MLA Vedavyas Kamath proves his allegation that he (Lobo) who was the former director of KUDCEMP was responsible for the water problem facing the city. Lobo also said if Kamath was proved wrong then he must retire from politics.
Speaking to reporters at the District Congress Office on May 1, Wednesday, Lobo described as irresponsible the statement of the MLA that the ADB aided Rs 160 crore first phase project was sub-standard.
Lobo said he wanted to know as to what Kamath as MLA has done to solve the water problem in the past one year.
He pointed out that 20% of the water supplied from Thumbay to Mangaluru was lost enroute due to pilferage. Moreover there is also leakage in the old PVC pipe that supplied water within the city. If the water supply system was implemented as per KUDCEMP original plan then pilferage could have been reduced to 10%, he added.
He also stated that the new vented dam at Thumbay was approved when Kumaraswamy was the and not during the tenure of Yeddyurappa as stated by Kamath. He also pointed out that it was possible to store water upto six meter in the dam after getting sanctioned Rs 30 crore as compensation to ht affected though there was a necessity of Rs 120 crore to pay compensation if water is to be stored upto 7 meters.
Former mayor Bhasker K, former corporator Naveen D’Souza, A C Vinayraj and others were present.