The zilla panchayat (ZP) has instructed all gram panchayats (GP) in the district to use grants provided under the 14th Finance Commission to provide drinking water in their respective jurisdictions during summer.
Shivashankar, Chief Executive Officer, ZP, told The Hindu on Sunday that each GP received grants in the range of ₹30 lakh to ₹60 lakh based on the size of the population and area. He said that he had asked the GPs to make use of the grants to alleviate the water woes in their jurisdictions.
Groundwater recharge
The CEO said that there was no water shortage in any of the villages in the district so far and he was hopeful that not many villages would face scarcity of potable water in summer. There was no drought like situation in any part of the district and owing to good rains in many parts in the last few months, groundwater was recharged considerably.
Mr. Shivashankar said the GPs could use the funds for laying of pipelines, drilling of new borewells, hydro-fracturing and installing motors.
Meanwhile, Prabhu Swamy, Chief Planning Officer, ZP, told The Hindu that the State government had released ₹142 crore this year under rural drinking water supply and GPs had been asked to make use of this also for drinking water supply.
Summer 2017
It may be recalled here that there was acute drinking water scarcity in over hundred villages last year and drinking water was provided to these villages through tankers. As many as 41 villages in Mysuru taluk, 24 in Nanjangud, 16 in Hunsur, 17 in H.D. Kote and six in T.Narsipura were provided drinking water through tankers for over three months during summer last year. Many works to provide potable water and to clear silt from tanks were taken up last year. The situation this year, according to the officials, is not so alarming.
