The Hindu 16.03.2011
Rs. 4 cr. sought to tackle water crisis in Gulbarga
Action plans ready to handle the situation in the district
Officials of the Gulbarga Zilla Panchayat and the urban local bodies in
the district have prepared action plans to tackle drinking water
shortage during this summer.
Proposals seeking a total of Rs. 4 crore have been
submitted to the Deputy Commissioner for taking up emergency works to
tackle the crisis in both urban and rural areas.
Official sources told The Hindu here on Tuesday
that the urban local bodies had submitted a proposal for taking up works
including repairs of 673 hand pumps and 107 borewells with electric
pumps, deepening 138 borewells that have gone dry, flushing 111
borewells, and hydro-fracturing of five borewells. Funds have also been
sought for purchasing 20 tankers to supply drinking water in urban
areas.
Chief Executive Officer of the Gulbarga Zilla Panchayat
Salma Fahim said on Tuesday that officials of the zilla panchayat
Engineering Division and the Water Supply Division had been asked to
keep a constant vigil on the situation in rural areas. Funds were being
released to take up emergency works.
Ms. Fahim said that senior officials would review the
situation regularly and update the list of villages that were facing
water problem.
She said the zilla panchayat had earlier submitted a
proposal to the Deputy Commissioner seeking Rs. 12.09 crore for taking
up emergency works in 81 villages that were facing drinking water
problem and for drilling 282 borewells in rural areas. The proposal,
however, was yet to be approved, she said.
Under the 13th Finance Commission grant for Panchayati
Raj institutions, Rs. 4.54 crore was available for taking up drinking
water supply works and sanitation works during the current year.
38 village identified
According to the latest information, 38 villages and hamlets in the district are facing drinking water shortage.
A sum of Rs. 9.8 lakh was required immediately to tackle the situation in these villages, she said.
Ms. Fahim said that drinking water was being supplied through tankers only in Sheri Sanna Tanda (hamlet) in Chincholi taluk.
The situation was bad in Agasiloni Tanda too, but the
authorities were unable to supply water through tankers as there was no
approach road. Residents of this hamlet were fetching water from a
source 1.5 km away. The authorities are planning to drill a borewell in
this tanda.
More villages were likely to face drinking water
shortage by mid-April when there will be a sudden drop in the
groundwater level.
