The former Union Minister and Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge has directed the district administration to find a permanent water source to meet the drinking water requirement on the main campus of the Central University of Karnataka at Kadaganchi village in Aland taluk of Kalaburagi district.
Mr. Kharge who, accompanied by district in-charge Minister Sharanprakash Patil and Regional Commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas, reviewed various development works taken up on the main campus of the university on Monday, said that provision of drinking water to the university has remained an unresolved issue and the officials should work out a permanent and lasting solution to this. Mr. Kharge agreed with university vice-chancellor H.M. Maheshwaraiah that the present supply of the drinking water from Amarja Dam was not dependable and taking into consideration of the future requirements, the district administration should find a permanent source of drinking water to the university. He asked Deputy Commissioner Ujwalkumar Ghosh, who was present at the meeting, to prepare a proposal and submit it to the State government for approval.
Mr. Kharge also asked the university authorities to increase storage capacity of water provided to the university and should avoid blaming the district administration and local officials for shortage.
“Despite facing severe shortage of water during this summer, the authorities ensured adequate supply of drinking water from the available sources,” he said. The officials also suggested other steps such as rainwater harvesting to improve the groundwater resources on the university campus.
Earlier, Prof. Maheshwaraiah, who made a power point presentation of various development works taken up on the main campus, said that during the 11th plan, Rs. 2.17 crore was provided to the university for infrastructure development. Of this, Rs 1.84 crore was spent and during the 12th plan, another Rs. 2.10 crore was released of which Rs. 2.02 crore has been spent. Apart from this, the university has received Rs. 10.20 crore assistance from Hyderabad Karnataka Region Development Board.
Prof. Maheshwaraiah said that the UGC has sanctioned Rs. 12 crore for installing Wi-Fi on the main campus and the installation work is yet to begin. The university proposes to start skill-oriented courses, hospitality management and tourism course and take up digitalisation of records and establish an incubation centre. The university proposes to plan 50,000 saplings of different varieties and it had already planted 10,000 saplings.
