Satish Jarkiholi, Minister for Public Works and district in charge, has asked officers to ensure the district does not suffer from water scarcity in the coming months.
He asked officers of concerned departments to take necessary precautions to ensure that there was no shortage of drinking water, cattle fodder or power supply during summer.
He was speaking at the Karnataka Development Programme review meeting at Suvarna Soudha. The Minister directed that all departments should start the process two months in advance to avoid delay in recruitment of outsourced employees.
“Water is being supplied through tankers in ten gram panchayats, the Minister said. Around ₹1 crore rupees will be available to the tahsildars in the 15 taluks of the district. There was no dearth of funds for drinking water supply and drought relief,” the Minister said.
“We had asked all gram panchayats to have their own tankers. I am told that so far, 280 GPs have bought their own tankers. The rest should buy tankers as soon as possible. It will make sure that you are not reliant on any one else,” he said. He also asked officers to supply water through tankers, rather than drilling new borewells.
Homeless families
Officers said that 262 families who lost their homes due to heavy rains were sanctioned houses. Out of 3.72 lakh farmers in the district, 3.40 lakh farmers have received crop loss compensation due to the recent drought.
Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil informed the Minister that there was enough fodder available in the district for 26 weeks. “Apart from this, a tender has also been called for the purchase of necessary fodder. Enough money is available for this,” the DC said. He said that due to the some issues in the registration of farmers and including account details in the FRUITS software, compensation to 21,000 farmers was pending and would be cleared soon.
Irrigation canals
Rajya Sabha member Eranna Kadadi demanded that irrigation canals are dredged before the onset of monsoon rains.
MLA Mahantesh Kaujalagi complained that in some parts of the district, people from outside the State were buying fodder. He suggested that fodder should be purchased in advance and kept in stock so that there is no shortage in the coming days.
P.N. Lokesh, Belagavi City Corporation Commissioner, said that appropriate preparations had been made to tackle the problem of drinking water in the summer. “Private wells have been identified to supply water and separate funds have been made for the purpose in the BCC budget. Tankers will also be purchased where necessary,” he said.
