Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Officials told to complete work on Gulbarga tank in a week

Special Correspondent

Darshanapur conducts on-the-spot inspection at Sharanabasaveshwar Tank

MAKING A POINT: Agriculture Marketing Minister Sharanabasappa Darshanapur and officials during the on-the-spot-inspection at Sharanabasaveshwar Tank in Gulbarga on Friday.

GULBARGA: Agriculture Marketing Minister Sharanabasappa Darshanapur on Friday took to task the implementing agency of the Rs. 5.64-crore conservation and integrated development programme for the 178-year-old Sharanabasaveshwar Tank in Gulbarga city for the inordinate delay in completing the work. The programme is meant to remove silt from the tank and strengthen the artificial island there. The Minister directed the officials to ensure that the work was completed in a week.

Mr. Darshanapur, who is also district in-charge Minister, visited the tank for an on-the-spot inspection to verify the claims of the officials and the agency given contract for the work.

He did not hide his displeasure over the slow progress of the work and said the claims that 80 per cent of silt had been removed were misleading.

The Minister said the Karnataka Land Army Corporation entrusted with the work, had not made the desired progress. He said monsoon had set in and the city had received good showers ahead of schedule. The work should have been completed by the end of May. But now rainwater had been allowed to collect in portions of the tank affecting work.

The Minister directed the Land Army officials to deploy heavy earthmovers to speed up work. He warned them that payment would be stopped and action would be initiated against the contractor.

Officials, including Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey and corporation Commissioner S.P. Mudhol, told the Minister that as per the original estimate 1.44 lakh cubic feet of silt was to be removed from the tank. However, this had been revised and 2.17 lakh cubic feet of silt would be removed now.

The cost of the project, assisted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest under the National Lake Conservation Plan, had also been revised from Rs. 4.89 crore to Rs. 5.64 crore, they said. Mr. Darshanapur said the Land Army had been given Rs. 40 lakh for the work so far. The city corporation commissioner had been given Rs. 40 lakh for construction of an immersion tank and boat jetty. Besides, Rs. 5.34 lakh had been provided to the Minor Irrigation Department for pumping out water from the tank.

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