As many as 85 villages in all seven taluks of the district are facing acute shortage of drinking water, forcing the villagers to buy water from suppliers.
According to the Mandya district administration, Nagamangala taluk is the worst hit with 21 villages facing water crisis. The problem is also haunting Srirangapatna taluk (17 villages), Mandya (14), Maddur (14), K.R. Pet (7), Pandavapura (6) and Malavalli (6 villages) for the past few weeks.
Many reasons
Depletion of groundwater-levels, plummeting water-level in Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir, stoppage of water to canals owing to the on-going repair works, dried bore-wells and tanks and power-cuts are the main reasons for the crisis, a tahsildar, who did not want to be named, said.
Funds granted
The district administration has initiated measures including releasing special grants to mitigate the problem, executive officer of a taluk panchayat said.
Deputy Commissioner M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan has allocated Rs. 50 lakh to each taluk to tackle the crisis.
K.R. Pet
Meanwhile, the crisis is expected to worsen in K.R. Pet with the level in Hemavati river, which supplies water to K.R. Pet town, drastically depleting on Wednesday.
“We will bring the issue to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner and if needed, we will seek additional funds and special measures to face the problem,” a senior revenue officer at K.R. Pet said.
