The Hindu 21.01.2010
Water scarcity in Bangalore rural towns
Staff Reporter
Bache Gowda asks officials to tackle water scarcity
He is not satisfied with the progress of housing schemes
Bangalore: Scarcity of drinking water is a major problem in five towns of Bangalore Rural district — Hoskote, Vijayapura, Devanahalli, Doddaballapur and Nelamangala. Many areas receive water supply through tankers only once in 10 days, said Minister for Labour and district in-charge B.N. Bache Gowda. Speaking to reporters after reviewing the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) here on Wednesday, he said that borewells were going dry. “Since the district does not have natural water resource, people are forced to dig deeper for water. The district officials have been instructed to ensure that the problem is solved to a large extent before the onset of summer. Once the Upper Bhadra Project is implemented, the drinking water problem will be solved,” he said.
Mr. Gowda said that implementation of the various housing schemes was not satisfactory. “Since 2005-06, there has been only 52 per cent coverage. The projects have been stalled at various stages. The implementation of the schemes in Nelamanagala and Doddaballapur has not been effective. I will discuss this in detail with the officials again,” he said.
He said that while the Government fund allocated per house in towns was Rs. 80,000, it was Rs. 40,000 for those in rural areas. “The members said that Rs. 40,000 was insufficient and that it should be increased to at least Rs. 50,000. I will discuss this with the Government,” he added. The Minister termed the implementation of rural sanitation and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) programmes as successes. He said the rural sanitation programme had been implemented in 40 of the 98 gram panchayats in the district. “We hope to achieve 100 per cent target by March. The health coverage is good in the district,” he said.
About NREGS, he said that Rs. 34 crore had been spent and two lakh job cards issued in the district. The target was to spend Rs. 60 crore. While Rs. 12 crore was spent in Hoskote taluk, Rs. 8.25 crore was spent in Devanahalli taluk, Rs. 8.02 crore in Nelamanagala taluk and Rs. 5.05 crore in Doddaballapur taluk. “We still need Rs. 10 crore. We will send a proposal to the Government,” he said.
Mr. Gowda said the overall progress of works under KDP was around 83 per cent in the district. While the Plan expenditure was Rs. 70 crore, non-Plan expenditure was Rs. 120 crore. “We have spent Rs. 60 crore on various works so far. We hope to ensure 100 per cent implementation of all schemes by the end of March. Funds amounting to Rs. 11.25 crore for various schemes are expected from the Centre,” he added.
M.C. Jayakumar Sonnappa, president, Bangalore Rural ZP; H.M. Rajani Rajanna, vice-president; and Chittaranjan, chief executive officer, were present.
