As millions of affected people struggle to reach water in several Indian states reeling under a drought-like condition, water was sprinkled on the roads of Bagalkot district in Karnataka today, ahead of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's visit to the parched areas.
According to reports, two tankers showered water on a particular stretch through which CM and his convoy were supposed to pass.
WATCH (18/04/16):Water being sprinkled on road in Bagalkot before K'taka CM Siddaramaiah's visit to drought-hit areahttps://t.co/7YyEwm9oaj
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2016
Siddaramaiah has said officials involved in the incident will be penalized for the act.
Bagalkot (Karnataka) (18/04/16): Water being sprinkled on road before CM Siddaramaiah's visit to drought-hit area pic.twitter.com/CTQGrtV3wm
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 19, 2016
Reacting to the incident, opposition leader S Prakash of the BJP said, "Ministers are touring Europe instead of dealing with their constituencies. For example, Ramalinga Reddy."
According to an NDTV report, more than 1,000 farmers have killed themselves in Karnataka since January, 2015, unable to cope with debt in the wake of crop failure. 137 taluks have already been declared drought-hit in the state.
In July itself last year there were 182 deaths in the state.
Barely two days after a train carrying five lakh litres of water reached Latur, close to 10,000 litres of water, the weekly ration of water per family in the drought-hit district, was wasted to clean up a helipad for the arrival of Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse, who chose to go to drought-hit Belkund by helicopter instead of by road. Beljund is hardly 40 minutes away from Latur city.
On Monday, Maharashtra rural development minister Pankaja Munde had to issue a clarification after she posted a series of on her Twitter account from a drought-hit area of the state.
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