Deccan Herald 16.12.2010
Kabini water scheme in limbo
Ramesh
S Kebbehundi, December 10
The Kabini drinking water project is sure to take more months for
completion, as deadlock over compensation to ryots continues, writes Ramesh S
Kebbehundi
The much-ambitious project of
bringing water from the River Kabini to quench the thirst of Mysoreans is
likely to be delayed due to delay in settlement of compensation to be paid
towards acquisition of land from farmers. This project is need of the hour keeping
in view drinking water problem being faced by the citizens in many extensions.
This problem will aggravate if the authorities concerned failed to resolve the
matter at the earliest.
The scheme of bringing bulk water from the River Kabini was the brain child of
the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board (KUWS&SB) under the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) at a cost of ` 108.81
crore.
Understanding its importance, the Centre approved the project and the
work started on November 22, 2008.
Unfortunately, this project is being delayed as the farmers who would lost
their land, are demanding compensation as per the prevailing market price. But,
the board is not ready for it. So the issue of compensation has become a bone
of contention between the board and the farmers. This has given a feeling
whether this project would be completed in 12 months.
The officials are worried about the
possible withdrawal of funds being released for this project if the scheme was
not completed within the stipulated period. Sources told City Herald that the
Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has not given compensation to 12 farmers from
whom they have acquired 19 acres of land at Bidargoodu in Nanjangud taluk.
Naturally, the farmers are not ready to allow works till they get compensation.
This has halted the work on construction of a jackwell on that land. As per the
agreement, the MCC had agreed to pay ` 24 lakh per acre of wet land and `
18 lakh for dry land. The previous Deputy Commissioner P Manivannan had
forwarded a proposal to the State government seeking permission to disburse
compensation among farmers as per the agreement.
However, that proposal seems to be gathering dust at the government level.
Besides, the government had not released its share of 10 per cent towards the
project as agreed at the time of agreement. The proposal is said to be pending
before the secretary, Department of Revenue. Till the file is cleared, there is
no chance of releasing compensation to those farmers as well as continuing the
work.
B L Bhyrappa, a councillor representing ward 12 in MCC, who is fighting for the
implementation of this project, said the works have slowed down after the
transfer of Manivannan and also change of district-in-charge minister. Except
the construction of water tanks with a storage capacity of 30 lakh litres each
at J P Nagar, Pinjarapole and JP Nagar- Koppalur- Nachanahalli palya areas, no
major work has been completed till date. As per the scheme, the board has to
lay the pipe for 15 km to bring water to the city. But, till date, pipe has
been laid up to only 9 km. The master balancing reservoir reinforcement
works in Vijayanagar, R T Nagar and J P Nagar are under progress. Water from
the Kabini would address the water woes of thousands of people in 25 wards. The
areas that would be benefited are J P Nagar, Kuvempunagar, all four stages of
Vijayanagar, Dattagalli, Ramakrishnanagar and surrounding areas.
The residents of J P Nagar and surrounding areas have been suffering from various
ailments because of drinking borewell water. Apart from this, those residents
would get sufficient quantity of water, an officer, on condition of anonymity,
opined. Convener, Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of
Mysore (ACICM), M Lakshmana said all efforts to get the decks cleared from
various agencies, have fell on the deaf ears. A series of protests and
demonstrations held in this connection, are not at all taken seriously by the
government. As Mysore is emerging as second destination after Bangalore, more
and more people are opting to settle in the city.
Naturally, the housing sector is witnessing a tremendous growth but sans basic
amenities. Water being an important component in life is not at all being
supplied to more than 40 per cent of the residents. Although, two major
rivers-Cauvery and Kapila are located in the district, still the water woes of
general public has not been solved. People struggling to collect a potfull of
water is a common scene in many parts of the city. As per the statistics, the
population of Mysore city is around 17 lakhs. Besides, there is a floating
population of another one lakh daily.
In the current situation, the MCC is not in a position to meet drinking water
requirements of the population with just 53.5 MGD of water being drawn from the
KRS reservoir. But, only 41MGD of water is available because of leakage and
water theft. Need of the hour was to make a concerted efforts to get the
project completed as early as possible so as to solve the woes of residents.
This problem would aggravate further if the elected representatives show lax,
opined an official.
