The Hindu : Delegation to meet CM over water crisis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 14, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Delegation to meet CM over water crisis

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE FEB. 13. A delegation comprising leaders from Mysore District will meet the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, on Saturday to seek financial assistance to tide over the water crisis during summer.

A proposal for works to be taken up at a cost of Rs.2 crores has been submitted to the Government, and the delegation will request it to release funds at the earliest. This was disclosed to presspersons here on Thursday by the Mayor, T.B.Chikkanna, after a meeting with the leaders of the Cauvery Kriya Samiti over the water problem.

The delegation, Mr. Chikkanna said, would be led by the Minister for Cooperation, H.Vishwanath. Apart from himself, it would include the officials of the Mysore City Corporation. The leaders would urge the Government to allot additional quota of power to the city to enable the authorities to lift water from the riverbed, he added.

The Mayor said Rs.85 lakhs had been sought to lift eight mgd of water from the riverbed near Hongalli Pumping Station, Rs.38 lakhs to install 100 more borewells in various parts of the city, Rs.50 lakhs to repair the existing borewells as well as installing new ones, and Rs.30 lakhs to supply water to various localities using water tankers. He said that the city required one tmcft of water till the end of June, and that preparations were afoot to avoid water shortage. Urging the citizens to use the available water judiciously, he, however, said there was no need to panic. Besides the Hongalli Pumping Station, Mr. Chikkanna said, an additional 500 kV transformer was being installed at Melapura to pump 12 mgd of water to the city.

The Corporation officials have submitted a plan to the Department of Urban Development pertaining to the approval of projects estimated at Rs.2 crores that would augment supply of drinking water to the city. The proposals that have been passed by the Corporation are yet to receive clearance from the Government, and the delegation will press for an early clearance of these proposals.

At the meeting, the activists of the Samiti, led by the former MLA, K.Harshakumar Gowda, stressed the need to avert a water crisis in the light of the depleting water level in the Krishna Raja Sagar Reservoir, near here. The Samiti members urged the Corporation authorities to take action on a war footing before summer set in so that a contingency plan could be prepared.

The proposed meeting with the Chief Minister followed a review meeting by the district administration in the last week of January to take stock of the water situation in the city. The meeting, while deciding to apprise the Chief Minister of the situation, urged the KPTCL authorities to ensure power supply to the pumping station to meet the water needs of the city.

Pumping of water from the riverbed becomes mandatory once the water level in the reservoir reaches 74 ft as water ceases to flow into the canal at that level. In the light of the fast depleting water level in the reservoir, efforts are being made by the authorities to ensure water supply by pumping water from the riverbed near Hongalli.

However, if the authorities decide to release water for standing crops in Mandya District, then the situation will further deteriorate.

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