24x7 drinking water: proposal to cover entire city before panel

Municipal Administration and Wakf Minister Qamar-ul Islam has said the proposal for a 24x7 drinking water supply project to cover the whole of Gulbarga city is awaiting approval from the State government. The Rs. 479-crore proposal is before the screening committee of the Urban Development Department.

Proposal

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Islam said that as per the proposal prepared by the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), the requirement of 105 mld of water would be met by drawing water from the Bennethora.

At present, the major portion of the drinking water requirement is met by drawing water from the Bhima. In addition, water is drawn from the Bennethora.

Mr. Islam said that the proposal had also been submitted to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for evaluation of technical viability.

After getting clearance from the screening committee and the evaluation by the IISc, the proposal would be sent to the Union government for financial assistance.

As per the proposals prepared by the KUIDFC, Mr. Islam said the water would be drawn by laying a new pipeline from Bennethora Dam at Harsur in Chittapur taluk and a new filter bed with capacity to filter more than 105 mld at a time would be installed at Salam Tekdi locality. From there, the filtered water would be stored in Gulbarga in overhead and ground-level reservoirs.

Mr. Islam said that once the screening committee cleared the proposal, permission would be obtained from the Water Resources Department to draw water from Bennethora Dam. Water drawn from the Bhima and available water in the filter stations would be used to supply drinking water to new localities that have come up on the outskirts of Gulbarga.

Mr. Islam thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge for overruling the decision of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and increasing the minimum support price (MSP) for red gram from Rs. 3,850 a quintal to Rs. 4,300 a quintal.

The proposal to increase the MSP to Rs. 4,500 was rejected by the CACP.

‘Support for farmers’

“The State government will protect the interests of red gram growers and intervene in the event of a fall in the prices of red gram,” he said.

Congress councillors Bhim Reddy Patil and Agsar Chulbul were present.