Karnataka - Madikeri   

Monsoon plays truant in Madikeri

Jeevan Chinnappa

EVEN IN RAINY SEASON: Citizens of Madikeri collecting drinking water from tankers operated by the Madikeri City Municipal Council.

Madikeri: Water shortage continues to haunt the citizens of Madikeri. City Municipal Council (CMC) is grappling with the situation as monsoon continues to play truant. Water level in the open wells and borewells has depleted.

Water tankers have been pressed into service by Madikeri CMC. People wait for the tankers to arrive in the morning and evening. Office-goers are not so lucky as they miss the morning trip. Strangely, certain areas of the city get copious water supply. The CMC authorities remain tight-lipped over the "secret". The delay in the arrival of monsoon is causing anxiety to everyone.

Efforts to augment the water supply are in full swing. But the timing appears wrong. Monsoon clouds hovering above signal ominous signs of the arrival of rains. As many as four bore wells have been dug in different localities of the city, of which two are working. De-silting work at the Roshanara tank has helped storage of good amount of water, CMC sources say. It caters to areas such as Deputy Commissioner's residence and surroundings, Mangaladevinagar, Raghavendra temple area, General Thimmaiah Circle, RTO quarters, Government hospital areas.

Cleaning of the Kannandabane tank, which was not being utilised properly in the last few years, is going on at a brisk pace. A scheme to draw water from this tank was evolved during the British era. Road connectivity, clearing weeds and deepening of the tank bed are going on. Madikeri MLA K.G. Bopaiah, Deputy Commissioner Subodh Yadav, CMC Commissioner D.H. Raya have visited the spot to ensure speedy completion of the work. Mr. Raya said that four more borewells would be dug in the localities identified, for which a proposal involving Rs. 15 lakh would be submitted to the Deputy Commissioner.

Farmers keep their fingers crossed because delay in the arrival of monsoon had made them stay indoors. Agriculture is the main occupation of farmers in Kodagu as over 36,000 hectares of land were covered under paddy cultivation. Coffee growers, waiting to manure plants, are anxiously waiting rains to come. Only rains would act as panacea for all water-related ills.

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