The ambitious drinking water supply project worth ₹1,049 crore aimed at covering 343 villages in Gadag district has been completed and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate it on March 22, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H.K. Patil has said.
He told presspersons in Gadag on Thursday that under the project, completed within the stipulated time, water drawn from the Tungabhadra was being supplied to villages in Gadag, Shirahatti, Laxmeshwar and Mundaragi taluks and Mundaragi town. And water drawn from the Malaprabha was being supplied to villages in Naragund, Ron and Gajendragad taluks.
Mr. Patil said the Chief Minister would also lay the foundation stone for the construction of a 450-bed hospital at a cost of ₹100 crore on the premises of Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences and a hostel for girl students at a cost of ₹19 crore.
The formal inauguration of the drinking water project and development works would be held at VDST Ground in Gadag, and at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan the Chief Minister would formally inaugurate the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University.
Regarding making the State ‘open defecation-free’ by October 2018, the Minister said that the government was taking steps to achieve the target well in advance by the end of May. Already 11 districts had been declared as ODF and another nine districts, namely Gadag, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davanagere, Mysuru, Chamarajnagar, Koppal, Haveri and Chikkaballapur, would be covered during the programme. Those who worked for the cause would be felicitated by the Chief Minister on the occasion.
