S.L. Dharme Gowda, Chairman of Legislative Council Petitions Committee, said on Wednesday that he had directed the officers of the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), the district administration, and the Udupi civic corporation to complete the ₹300-crore project to supply the Varahi water to Udupi city within the stipulated time. The officers have promised to complete the project by 2022, he said.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Gowda said that he and other members of the committee had visited all the spots connected with this project in Udupi district over the last two days.
He had told the officers that there should be no delay in the implementation of the project.
Earlier, this project had envisaged water being drawn from the Varahi to be brought and purified at Baje dam. But this would have deprived the villages en route of getting treated drinking water.
Hence, the committee had directed the officers to construct a treatment plant at Halady village so that the 23 villages coming under 13 gram panchayats would get drinking water.
As many as 4 acres of private land had been purchased for the construction of water treatment plant at Halady. The water will be pumped from the Varahi at Bharatkal supplied to Halady for treatment, he said.
The committee had also directed the officers to first lay the pipelines from Halady to Udupi and then take up the work of laying the road. It had been decided to take water from not just Varahi Right Bank Canal but also the Varahi. “It is the river water which is going into the sea which is being utilised for this purpose,” he said.
Quality pipelines and materials will be used for the project. This project will benefit the people of Udupi city for the next 50 years. The committee had also held talks with the farmers with regard to this project, he said.
“The committee has sought a report on the progress of the project once three months. Should there be any delay, the committee will visit the district and inspect the works. We will take appropriate action against officers responsible for the delay,” Mr. Gowda said.
S.V. Sankanur, Mari Thibbegowda, Prakash Rathod, Raghunath Rao Malkapure, P.R. Ramesh, Mohan Kondaji, MLCs and members of the Petitions Committee, Raghupati Bhat, MLA, were present.
