Villages that may face drinking water scarcity identified
The Gulbarga Zilla Panchayat and the district administration have completed a study to identify those villages that may face drinking water scarcity.
Deputy Commissioner Vishal R. announced this at the quarterly review meeting of the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP), which was presided over by Minister for Water Resources Basavaraj Bommai, here on Wednesday.
Dr. Vishal said the exhaustive baseline study of the villages with detailed profile of the groundwater availability and quality of drinking water available would help officials avert drinking water scarcity in these villages during summer.
Mapping sources
The Deputy Commissioner said the Engineering Department of the zilla panchayat had prepared detailed maps of the villages and drinking water sources, including groundwater and flowing water sources.
This was done on the instructions of Mr. Bommai, he said.
Appreciating the effort, legislators Sharanprakash Patil, Doddappa Gowda Patil and Allamprabhu Patil sought details of the action plan to overcome the water scarcity.
Drought relief
Mr. Bommai said the Government had released separate funds for taking up drought relief work (under the Calamity Relief Fund) and drilling borewells (which is not allowed under CRF).
A sum of Rs. 1.5 crore was available under CRF, and of this, Rs. 86.89 lakh was released to implementing agencies in all seven taluks to take up 126 drought relief works.
The Government had released Rs. 1.33 crore of the total Rs. 4.12 crore sanctioned for drilling 266 borewells in villages with severe drinking water shortage.
Funds for installing hand pumps, power connections, and motors for borewells would be provided under CRF, the Minister said.
