Chakravarthy Mohan, district in-charge Secretary, has directed officials to take measures for completion of works related to multi-village drinking water projects in the district at the earliest to ensure regular supply of drinking water to rural areas.
Officials of the Department of Revenue said at a review meeting here on Tuesday that in the wake of the failure of pre-monsoon rain, as many as 93 villages in the district are dealing with acute scarcity of drinking water. They said drinking water was being supplied to these villages through tankers. The district received 33 mm rain from January 1 to May 26 against normal rain of 130 mm during this period. The deficiency of rain is around 74% during this period owing to which the ground water level has declined.
K.A. Dayanand, Deputy Commissioner, told the meeting that in villages where drinking water borewells of gram panchayats have run dry, water is being supplied to the households from private borewells. The district administration is purchasing water from 24 borewells located on private land.
Mr. Mohan said the implementation of multi-village drinking water projects would offer a permanent solution to the drinking water crises in rural areas. Works related to this scheme in Bullapura and Yadehalli villages under which water would be drawn from the Tunga and supplied to 25 villages in the vicinity; and Gowthamapura multi-village project in Sagar taluk that would provide drinking water to 28 villages, should be completed at the earliest. Referring to the weather forecast that there would be delay in the entry of southwest monsoon to Karnataka, he said that, more villages are likely to be gripped with drinking water crises in coming days. He asked the officials to make necessary arrangements.
K. Shivarame Gowda, ZP CEO; Charulatha Somal, commissioner, Shivamogga City Corporation; and Shekhar H.T., Additional Superintendent of Police, were present at the meeting.
