Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (SP)

Beltangady, May 3: "The gravity of water scarcity that has hit Dakshina Kannada district this year is unprecedented," noted Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister, B Ramanath Rai, He also ordered the concerned to take possession of privately owned borewells, wells, and ponds on behalf of the government to provide drinking water to the people.

He was addressing a meeting convened for the purpose of finding an emergent solution to the water problem on Monday May 2 at the taluk panchayat hall here.

Zilla panchayat chief executive officer. P I Sreevidya, also passed on this instruction to village development officers. She further said that there is provision to buy water from private parties and distribute water to the general public. Noting that there are 159 ponds in the district, she said that wherever necessary, they will be taken over and water would be provided to the needy.

Deputy commissioner, A B Ibrahim, noted that 27 districts of the state have been considered as drought-hit. He said that only three districts, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Kodagu, have not been declared as drought-hit. He said that in the past, instructions had been issued against feeding water to their gardens by using their wells, borewells and ponds wherever such water sources are located near government-owned borewells. He said that this order has been further extended by a week. He told the officials that for drinking water works, officials need not await any orders, and get power connection immediately. In case of shortage of equipment, they can be bought from private persons, and these bills will be footed by the government, he added.

Zilla panchayat deputy secretary, Umesh, explained that a sum of Rs 50 lac had been given to this taluk for drinking water purpose, and 12 borewells had been dug. He said that the situation has not become so worse as to necessitate supply of water through tankers.

MLA, K Vasant Bangera, gave details of water problem faced by various villages. He accused Kuvettu panchayat of not releasing water in spite of having sources. He also accused Mescom of harassing the concerned without providing power connection to water supply schemes. Zilla panchayat members, Koragappa Naik, Mamata Shetty, Dharnendra Kumar, Shekhar Kukkedy etc also explained about the water problems faced by their areas.

Mescom engineer, Umeshchandra, was immediately summoned from Bantwal to the meeting, as there were complaints that Mescom was not providing power connection to drinking water projects immediately. The minister ordered for the suspension of junior engineer of zilla panchayat engineering division, Tippeswamy, after noticing that he had taken leave in spite of knowing that a meeting had been scheduled. He noted that as far as water scarcity is concerned, Mangaluru city is the worst hit, followed by Bantwal, Beltangady, Puttur, and Sullia taluks.

Zilla panchayat president, Meenakshi, vice president, Kasturi Panja, town panchayat president, Muguli Narayan Rao, Puttur assistant commissioner, Prameela Perla, tahsildar, Prasanna Murty, and taluk panchayat executive officer, Sooryanarayan Bhat, were present.