The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Mobile squads to tackle drinking water crisis

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Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Mobile squads to tackle drinking water crisis

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The Government has decided to set up control rooms and mobile squads in all district headquarters in the State to solve the drinking water problem in rural areas this summer .

Governor Rameshwar Thakur, who presided over a meeting of top officials on Tuesday, discussed the strategy to be adopted to deal with drinking water crisis. He instructed Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of zilla panchayats to prepare master plans to address the problem on a war footing in villages and towns this summer.

Addressing presspersons after a day-long meeting, Mr. Thakur said that Deputy Commissioners had been directed to set up control rooms with a dedicated phone line and engage three officials to man the facility, to tackle water crisis in villages.

Besides registering complaints, the staff posted at the control room should daily monitor water scarcity problem and take steps to repair borewells. A similar mechanism could help tackle the problem in big towns, he said.

Water table depletion

Official sources told The Hindu that on account of depletion of the water table, poor maintenance of water schemes and the problem of water quality, around 20 per cent of existing schemes become defunct. During 2007-08, 1,250 borewells were dug against the target of 4,727, they said.

An official of the Urban Development Department said that nine towns in various districts had been facing water crisis and that water was being supplied through tankers. But there had been no acute water crisis in towns so far, the official said.

The Governor has instructed Deputy Commissioners to tone up administration and strengthen the grievances redress mechanism. Officials’ visit to villages and holding of “Jana Spandana” would help address most of the problems at the district level, Mr. Thakur said.

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram would pay a visit to the State on Saturday to review fiscal expenditure. Additional funds would be sought from the Centre to accelerate the growth in backward districts, he said.

Asked about the State Government’s reply to the Supreme Court on the Cauvery water dispute, Mr. Rao said that the advocate representing the State had already filed the reply.

The Governor’s advisers including S. Krishna Kumar, P.P. Prabhu and P.K.H. Tharakan, principal secretaries of various departments, Regional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of Zilla Panchayats attended the meeting.

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