After depriving the Cauvery basin farmers of their “right” to adequate water, the controversial award of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal has robbed them of an opportunity to electrify their homes.
Soon after the final award pronounced on February 5 this year, the ongoing Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyudikaran Yojana, a centrally-sponsored scheme to electrify below poverty line (BPL) homes, went haywire and the work has almost come to a grinding halt.
Reason: Hundreds of labourers working under the scheme in Mandya, Mysore and Hassan districts, mostly from neighbouring TN, fled fearing violence. Apart from triggering a labour shortage, supply of materials was also hit. Electric pole supplies from Andhra Pradesh stopped abruptly.
Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company (Chescorp) has awarded the project contract to ABB, a Switzerland-based company, in three districts under the first phase. The scheme, which will benefit nearly 1.3 lakh BPL families, covering around 8,000 villages in Chescorp jurisdiction, was scheduled to be completed in March 2007. The project work includes erecting electric poles, wires and transformers.
“If we had not faced the problem, the project would have been over by March. The project was badly affected due to non-availability of labourers and the lack of supply of materials. Most of the labour on flight might have found new work and have not returned...We are mobilising labour again,” Chescorp Managing Director Vijaynarasimah told Deccan Herald. According to Chescorp officials, nearly 600 labourers (200 in Mandya and 400 in Mysore) fled the place in February, after the Cauvery verdict was out. Though no major incident of violence occurred, the situation was initially tense and farmers in the Cauvery basin had resorted to protests.
Those who were hired locally failed to turn up for work due to the Cauvery protests. “As Mysore-Bangalore highway and the railway line was blocked, labourers were unable to travel,” officials stated.
Further delay
Officials said that the project implementation will get further delayed as the monsoon is expected to set in any movement. “If the rain is heavy, the project will definitely be delayed by at least four months,” officials fear.