BANGALORE: The Government has decided to supply drinking water from Alamatti dam to villages in Bijapur district by laying water pipes at a cost of Rs. 27 crore, said Minister for Small and Medium Scale Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu.

Mr. Naidu, who is in-charge of the Bijapur district, reviewed the development works in the district on Friday. Later, he told presspersons that residents of Bijapur city were receiving drinking water once in 10 days now. To ensure regular supply to the city and villages around it, a decision had been taken to lay pipes from the dam site to Bijapur, he said.

Former Union Minister and Bijapur MP Basavaraj Patil Yatnal and Bijapur MLA Appasaheb Mallappa Pattanashetty attended the meeting.

Water crisis

Six hundred villages in the district were facing drinking water crisis and the Government had decided to drill 600 borewells at a cost of Rs. 8 crore. As many as 220 borewells would be drilled in the next 20 days, he said.

Officials of the Irrigation Department had been instructed to complete the Gutti Basavanna Lift Irrigation Project at Sindagi taluk by March next. The 98 km-long canal would irrigate 40,000 hectares of barren land.

Under assistance of the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam, 102 tanks would be rejuvenated and that would help in tackling drinking water problem in 330 villages, he said. A sum of Rs. 23 crore had been set aside for construction of a ring road for Bijapur.

Power supply

Officials of the Hubli Electricity Supply Company (HESCOM) had been directed to provide power at least for nine hours a day. Now the district was receiving power only for four hours, Mr. Naidu said.

Asked about irregularities in the implementation of drip irrigation scheme, he said a committee headed by the assistant commissioner would inquire into it and submit a report in two months.

Funds sanctioned by the Centre for the scheme had been misappropriated, he said.

Help for sericulturists

Mr. Naidu, who also holds the sericulture portfolio, said the department would provide 90 per cent subsidy to small and marginal sericulturists to take up drip irrigation.

A plan was prepared to extend the area under sericulture from the existing 80,000 hectares to two lakh hectares.The meeting also decided to provide assistance of Rs. 25,000 each to small and marginal farmers for taking up mulberry cultivation.

Complexes in disuse

With World Bank assistance, the department had built seven growth centres and 12 commercial complexes in Tumkur and Kolar districts when Ramakrishna Hegde was the chief minister. But a majority of them were in disuse till today, he said.

The department had decided to take measures to eliminate irregularities in the functioning of cocoon markets, remove middlemen and supply quality pesticides to sericulturists. A 10-member security squad would also be formed in each market to ensure trade in a fair manner, Mr. Naidu said.

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