The Hindu : Aurad residents to share cost of water project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 06, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bidar

Aurad residents to share cost of water project

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR, FEB. 5. The residents of Aurad, who had been facing chronic water shortage, have decided to pool money to share the cost of constructing a permanent drinking water project for the town.

The Residents' Agitation Committee, which has been leading the initiative, has appealed to people to contribute to the pool depending on their capacity.

Shivraj Raga, President of the committee, said: "We need Rs. one lakh for paying a part of the compensation amount to a farmer in Tegumpur, whose land has to be acquired for the project. The major chunk will be paid by the Government. We are thinking of fixing a minimum donation per head, in addition to larger sums received from people. The population of the town is around 16,000. Even if 1,000 people come forward to pay Rs. 100 each, our problems will be solved," he said. Mr. Raga led a protest recently demanding supply of water.

The protesters demanded that the project approved on August 2003 be completed before the onset of summer this year. They were protesting against the delay in starting the work. The Committee members and some members of the town panchayat jointly staged a dharna on January 3. Panchayat members, known to be supporters of the Aurad MLA, Gundappa Vakil, withdrew from the dharna after seven days.

The committee members continued the agitation despite pressure from officials and the MLA to discontinue it. They threatened to continue the dharna till the work on the water supply project was taken up.

The project envisages drilling two open wells on the periphery of the Tegumpur Lake. A seven-km. pipeline will be drawn and water tanks will be built at three places in the town.

The proposed wells will be dug in the field of Basavarajappa Muktedar, who is not happy with the compensation of Rs. 32,000 per acre that the Government has offered him. Land acquisition was delayed as he stuck to his demand of Rs. One lakh per acre. The committee promised the Deputy Commissioner, T.K. Anil Kumar, who intervened at this time, to ensure quick acquisition of land.

The committee also promised to pay the balance amount of compensation after the Government paid him the amount. If all goes well, the committee will be in a position to settle the compensation issue in three days.

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Aurad residents to share cost of water project