Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Water schemes may yield a win for Dharam

By T.V. Sivanandan

GULBARGA, APRIL 15. Voters in Jewargi Assembly Constituency, from where the Public Works Minister, N. Dharam Singh, is seeking an eighth term in a row, have mixed reactions about the performance of Mr. Singh and expect a lot more from him.

While one section of voters admits that Mr. Singh's performance in the past five years has been was good, another section is disappointed with his work. They point out that the High Power Committee on Regional Imbalances had ranked Jewargi as the second most backward taluk in the State.

Sheelvant Patil, a farmer who owns ten acres of land at Madari village, told The Hindu that Mr. Singh could have done more for the constituency. He admitted that in the past five years Mr. Singh had focussed on building roads to all villages and easing the drinking water scarcity.

Bheemappa of Yedrami said one of the major contributions of Mr. Singh to Jewargi taluk was to provide irrigation facilities to about 60 per cent of the land. He admitted that Mr. Singh had been instrumental in including the Jewargi Branch Canal in the first phase of the Upper Krishna Project and securing more funds for its early completion. The taluk is covered by the Mudbal Branch Canal providing irrigation in places such as Andola and Naribol. The two canals provide drinking water supply to the neighbouring villages. The Bheema has been tapped to supply drinking water through the Rajiv Gandhi Technology Mission, with each scheme serving a cluster of villages.

The completion of the Kollur Barrage across the Bheema not only provides irrigation facilities and drinking water in many villages, but has also provided the much-needed link to Afzalpur taluk.

However, Shambulinga Patil of Andola was critical of Mr. Singh's performance. He said the Minister had failed to improve the communication facilities in the taluk and allowed his followers a free run. The coterie around Mr. Singh appears to have done more damage to his reputation.

Neelamma, a farm labourer, said life had remained the same for her and the only solace was that she got a house under the Ashraya scheme. The Stree Shakti programme is proving to be a blessing in disguise for the Congress in the taluk and the members of these groups have become one of the strongest supporters of the party in rural areas.

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