Magsaysay award-winner "Waterman" Rajendra Singh today asked political parties to make "drinking water security" legal and include the issue in their poll manifestos.
"Water belongs to the community and their rights need to be ensured as the Central government made the Food Security Act for poor community," Singh, who has been heading Tarun Bharat Sangh (a water conservation society), told a press conference here.
Almost every political parties which comes to power, spends five years without considering potable water security for everyone or managing existing natural resources in villages and cities, Singh said.
Policies to revive rivers need to be enacted and works undertaken in accordance with these policies by the Centre, state governments, and municipal corporations, he said.
"River rejuvenation work should be taken on a war footing," he said, demanding that this should be included in poll manifestos of political parties.
Laws should be enacted to ensure community rights on water, and it should be made constitutional, Singh said.
Laws should be passed to enable formation and functioning of community based river basin organisations, and the geo-cultural diversity of rivers should be respected, he said.
When asked whether he proposed these points to political parties, Singh said he had discussed the matter with Congress and BJP leaders, and had been assured that necessary attention would be given to consider water security in poll manifesto.
