T.B. Jayachandra, MLA and the State government’s representative in New Delhi, on Tuesday demanded that the government modify the Yettinahole drinking water scheme to ensure that tanks in Sira taluk of Tumakuru district are filled instead of supplying water to residents of the taluk.
Mr. Jayachandra, a former Minister, who chaired a meeting with senior officials of the Water Resources Department, said the provision of drinking water to Sira under the project was not useful.
Instead, he said 200 tanks in the Sira town should be filled under the project which would ensure sustainability in the supply of water to residents of the taluk.
Under the project, 24.01 tmcft of water would be lifted from Yettinahole, a stream in the Western Ghats, to cater to the drinking water needs of the drought-prone districts. A share of 0.514 tmcft of water has been earmarked to the Sira taluk, said an official release.
At the meeting attended by officials and engineers of the Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd., Mr. Jayachandra said that the project should enable filling waterbodies in the town.
The officials said the issue would be placed before the coordination committee meeting of the project for detailed discussions and clearance.
Since the allocation of water had been made under the rural drinking supply category, officials informed Mr. Jayachandra that the issue would also be discussed with the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department and a meeting would be scheduled next month.
Mr. Jayachandra also obtained information related to land acquisition for the project, which was envisaged to find a permanent solution to the drinking water needs of Kolar, Chickaballapur, Tumakuru, and other parched districts. The project aims at providing drinking water close to 70 lakh people.
JD (S) hits out
The project was launched about a decade ago by Siddaramaiah in Chickballapur when he was the Chief Minister during the first term (2013-18). The project is moving at a snail’s pace and the Congress government neglected it, the JD (S) alleged on social media platform X.
The JD (S) hit out at Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who also holds the Water Resources portfolio, for not doing much to get the project completed.
“Mr. Shivakumar is more bothered about ‘Brand Bengaluru’ and the project only filled the pockets of contractors,” the JD (S) charged.
