The Hindu              27.05.2013

Meeting today to chalk out steps to mitigate water crisis

Rs. 40 crore released to urban local bodies to lessen the problem.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will chair a high-level meeting of deputy commissioners of all districts and chief executive officers of zilla panchayats on Monday to chalk out steps to mitigate drinking water crisis in the State.

Mr. Siddaramaiah announced this at a press conference after a meeting with Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani here on Sunday.

A large number of villages, towns and cities in the State, including Bangalore and Mysore, are facing severe drinking water crisis following the depletion of storage in various reservoirs.

Other participants

Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation M.B. Patil, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H.K. Patil, Minister for Municipalities and Local Bodies Qamar-ul-Islam and MLAs from Bangalore will also attend the meeting.

The State government has released Rs. 40 crore to urban local bodies to arrange for drinking water supply in the affected areas till the onset of monsoon.

Glitches aplenty

Mr. Siddaramaiah discussed problems being faced by people in Aadhaar enrolment centres, particularly in Bangalore, with Mr. Nilekani.

There were several glitches in the enrolments process and long queues and absence of qualified staff result in delays at several centres, he said.

The enrolment centres — Bangalore has 412 run by four private agencies — had not kept pace with the spike in the demand for Aadhaar registrations. The Chief Minister said more centres would be opened in Bangalore to expedite the enrolment process by the year-end.

The Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for cooking gas will be rolled out in Mysore and Tumkur districts from June 1.