FOR A NEW LIFE: Water being emptied from Sharanabasaveshwar Tank in Gulbarga through a temporary outlet.

GULBARGA: The long delayed scheme to remove silt from Sharanabasaveshwar Tank, the only water body in the town, was launched on Wednesday under the Centrally-assisted Tank Development Programme.

The scheme is being taken up to increase the storage capacity of the tank and to recharge borewells and open wells in Gulbarga. There is also a plan to convert the tank into a tourist spot.

Deputy Commissioner Anjum Parvez, who pursued the matter with the Union Forest and Environment Ministry and got the nod to remove silt from the tank, which is spread over 76 acres of land, at a cost of Rs. 5 crores, said water is being let out into a drain from the tank through two special outlets.

Mr. Parvez said this work has to be done in a systematic manner to avoid flooding of residential localities in the vicinity.

Drying

This will be completed in a month when the tank will be allowed to dry for about a fortnight before the actual work to remove silt is taken up in a full scale.

He allayed fears that this will result in a fall in ground water level affecting borewells in the vicinity of the tank. He pointed out that the ground water level is high because of copious rainfall this year.

Mr. Parvez said the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board has almost completed modernising the drinking water distribution system from the Bhima source. The overhead tanks in most of the localities have been connected with the new pipeline with more carrying capacity. Similarly, the work to lay pipelines with improved carrying capacity is also nearing completion.

Drinking water

This will ensure that there is no shortage of drinking water this summer. Mr. Parvez said in the event of shortage, the district administration will supply water through tankers.

Mr. Parvez said apart from the plan to lay a pipeline from the Old and New Filter beds to fill the tank from the Bhima and Bennethora sources after removal of silt, the tank will be filled naturally with the wash-off rainwater in the next season.

The work to remove silt will be completed by the end of April, he added.

Island

Mr. Parvez said there is a proposal to construct an artificial island in the middle of the tank and construct a boat jetty to attract tourists. He said the sewage inlets into the tank will be plugged permanently. The water flowing into it from the moat of the Gulbarga Fort will also be stopped. An enclosure will be constructed on one corner of the tank near the fort to facilitate the submersion of Ganesha idols during Vinayaka Chaturthi.

Mr. Parvez said the present storage capacity of the tank had come down to 90 million gallons of water because of silt formation.

After the clearance of silt, the carrying capacity of the tank is expected to go up to 145 million gallons of water.

Originally, the area where the tank is situated abetting the fort was used as a stone quarry by the erstwhile Bahmani kings to construct the fort. Later, the Nizam converted it into a tank.

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