Labour Minister and Dharwad district in-charge Santosh Lad has directed authorities to take measures to ensure there is no scarcity of drinking water for people and livestock in Dharwad district.
He was chairing a meeting of officials along with elected representatives from the district at his office at Vikas Soudha in Bengaluru on Friday. He asked the officials to make water tanker arrangements for supply of drinking water to villages that were prone to scarcity.
Expressing displeasure over implementation of the expansion of 24x7 water supply project in Hubballi-Dharwad, Mr. Lad said he had received several complaints on laying of pipelines, delay in land acquisition, and poor grievance redressal system. He said even elected representatives had expressed dismay over the poor maintenance and execution by L&T company, which had bagged the contract.
Mr. Lad said if there was no improvement in the maintenance and time-bound completion of the project, then it could be treated as violation of contract terms and might lead to termination of the contract.
The Minister also directed officials to monitor the execution of various drinking water supply projects and expedite the works. He said he would visit the work sites during his next visit to the district and asked the officials to ensure good quality work.
Mr. Lad said the land acquisition process for the bypass road widening between Hubballi-Dharwad had been completed and asked the authorities to ensure speedy execution of work.
On the proposal to fill water tanks in Kalaghatagi taluk by drawing water from Bedti Nala, he asked the superintending engineer of the Water Resources Department to conduct a feasibility study and said he would conduct spot inspection the next week.
MLAs Vinay Kulkarni, Prasad Abbayya, and N.H. Konaraddi took part in the meeting and deliberated upon various projects in their respective constituencies. Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Gurudatta Hegde, Municipal Commissioner Gopalkrishna B., ZP CEO Swaroopa T.K., and various other officials were present.
