The sad state of the conservancies is never ending. Conservancy in any town has always played a major role.

Tumkur which belongs to the old Mysore region, is also not new to this.

Conservancy is a very good concept which the old town planners had drawn. This is a vacant space between two streets where the drainage system runs. The sewage and underground water is let into these pipes. The width of the conservancy is generally between 8ft and 10 ft. 

It is the bounden duty of the municipality or the corporation to see that they maintain these conservancies. This very duty the CMC in Tumkur seems to have forgotten.

At least now with the young members elected to the CMC, everyone is hoping that they will remind the officials of their duties. There are environmental engineers working in the CMC. But with the underground drainages being built, the role of the conservancies is becoming redundant.

“With UGDs being built everywhere, where is the necessity for conservancies now. Let us sell the conservancy space to the owners of the building adjoining the conservancy,” was the thinking that went on among the councillors in the last term. The whole CMC had given acceptance to this idea.

The idea behind this was, if there is no conservancy then the whole town, (city) will become a garden city. The decision to sell the conservancy space was also passed. Some of the city fathers were elated with this decision.

Because all of them felt that from now on they could use their backyard.

Accordingly, some of them started utilising the conservancy space. Besides, those who were in a position to give ‘vitamin-M’ were also given permission.

However, none of them thought about an important issue. That is, the government has not taken a decision to implement this order anywhere. This was a decision by the CMC.

This decision was as effective as the ones regarding street dogs and pigs. Also, because of this decision, the menace of street dogs and pigs increased.

Whether the government gives permission or not, the CMC is supreme is it not? Hence, the then city fathers violated the rules and encroached on the conservancies.

Complaints started doing the rounds that illegal construction of compounds and building abounded. If anyone questioned, the stock answer was, “So what, we are ready to pay the fine imposed by the CMC.”

This is acceptable. But one must remember that Tumkur is still considered a backward region. According to Dr Nanjundappa report, this city has developed just a bit, then there is no need to say what Tumkur really is.

When such is the situation, still thousands of people are to take UGD connections. All such families need conservancies. But some influential persons are swallowing the conservancies as though the problem has already been solved.

Without getting into the nitty gritty of the problem, if one were to talk about the issue, then these city fathers without a care for the neighbours have put them in a fix. When it rains heavily, the water floods the conservancy and enters the houses.

The people are fed up with this attitude of the city fathers. They are all demanding that first let them attend to the more controversial issues like the completion of the work of Railway overbridge and then concentrate on constructing scientific UGDs.

If they adopt this approach then conservancies will slowly disappear and the drains will not be blocked. The rainwater will also not flood the low lying areas.

But who is to bell the cat? Who is going to listen to the woes of the people? At least the newly elected young CMC members should see that they are respected by the officials and the works implemented.