The Hindu 24.05.2013
Rs. 40 cr. released to ULBs to tackle drinking water shortage
Funds to be used to drill borewells.
The State government has released Rs. 40 crore to urban
local bodies to take steps to arrange for drinking water supply till the
onset of the monsoon.
Announcing this at a press
conference in Bangalore on Thursday, Minister for Municipalities and
Local Bodies, Public Enterprises and Minorities Welfare Qamar-ul Islam
said this allocation would be in addition to the Rs. 18.72 crore that
was already available with the Municipalities Department.
He
said that the additional allocation of Rs. 40 crore could be used for
deepening and cleaning the borewells, drilling additional borewells,
repair of water supply lines and installation of motor pumps. The
Minister said that the government would provide more funds if need be.
The
allocation to districts and ULBs were made on the basis of population.
Belgaum district has got the highest allocation of Rs. 3.75 crore
followed by Kolar (Rs. 2.50 crore), Tumkur (Rs. 2.40 crore), Mysore (Rs.
2.35 crore) and Bangalore (Rs. 20 lakh).
Officials warned
He
said action would be taken against officials of the Urban Local Bodies
if they failed to collect cent per cent property tax, water tax and
advertisement fee.
He added that the State Finance Commission grants would be stopped for ULBs that fall short of revenue collection targets.
When
asked how the government would tackle the drinking water shortage as a
large number of borewells catering to drinking water supply schemes had
failed, the Minister looked towards the skies indicating that only rains
could provide solution.
Women’s reservation
Mr.
Islam noted that guidelines for preparing the reservation list for
election of presidents and vice-presidents for the ULBs are being worked
out.
There would be 50 p.c. reservation for women
for top posts, he said, adding that they had only 33 per cent
reservation during their election as members.
Mr.
Qamar-ul Islam said that the government would provide training in
administration to the newly elected members of the Urban Local Bodies at
the State Institute for Urban Development-Mysore.
