Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Tank work at a snail's pace

Groundtruth

DRIED UP: A view of Sharanabasaveshwar Tank in Gulbarga.

GULBARGA: The people of Gulbarga city would have to wait for some more months for completion of work on the historical Sharanabasaveshwar Tank. Work on desilting the tank was taken up in April 2006.

The Rs. 4.89-crore project was taken up for the first time after the tank was constructed by the erstwhile Nizam government. The project has run into problems because of faulty estimation of the silt in the tank bed and finding the sum to meet the increased cost of work.

Although the tank was constructed to meet the water requirement of the Mehbub Shaha Gulshan Public Garden, adjacent to the tank, it became a major source for recharging the groundwater in major parts of the city.

With the corporation and the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSBD) unable to meet the entire drinking water requirement of the city's population, borewells were the only hope for people.

Although borewells either dried up or their yield reduced during summer, those within a radius of 3 to 5 km of the tank remained unaffected.

Officials involved in the desilting operation told The Hindu that the inaccurate estimate of silt in the tank-bed was the main reason for the delay in completing the project.

Official sources said so far 2.10 lakh cubic metres of silt had been removed and another one lakh cubic metres of silt had to be taken out before water could be stored in the tank, and Rs. 75 lakh was required to remove the additional silt.

Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey said that the district administration had decided not to seek additional funds from the Lake Development Authority, which had sanctioned the project, but utilise the funds from city corporation and the Gulbarga Development Authority for the purpose.

Mr. Pandey said desilting of the tank would begin within a week and would be completed by April 15. However, the delay in this work had not affected other works under the project.

Work on the children's park on the bund had been taken up and a musical fountain would be installed.

T.V. Sivanandan in Gulbarga

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