Many temple tanks revived

Fresh lease

A project taken up by the district administration in July to revive temple tanks (kalyanis and pushkarnis) in the arid district has yielded good results.

As a result of the work taken up under the rejuvenation project, several temple tanks all over the district are now full to the brim.

A team of officials, led by Deputy Commissioner Dr D S Vishwanath, along with a group of reporters, visited some of the kalyanis/ pushkarnis which have been revived under the project.

Rs 1.91 lakh

The ‘pushkarni’ at a local Mutt at Tambihalli village in Kolar taluk was almost full. The tank was revived at a cost of Rs. 1.91 lakh under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Dr Vishwanath said.

The official team also visited a kalyani at the Sri Venugopala Swamy temple at Patna village. The kalyani, which had gone dry for over a decade, has around 40-foot water at present. The water would not exhaust for at least two years and this will lead to the recharging of the groundwater table in the area, he said.

Rajakaluve connection

The 50-foot-deep temple tank at Hunukunda village in Bangarpet taluk was almost full. The water that flows into the kalyani from the Rajakaluve is filtered before it is let into the tank, explained Zilla Panchayat Executive Engineer Devaraj.

Plans are on setup a reverse osmosis water purification unit at the kalyani in Hunkunda, the Deputy Commissioner said.

Children’s work

Dr Vishwanath lauded the work done by school children in revival of temple tanks. Members of women self-help groups, gram panchayats and local officials had also chipped in in a big way, he added.

Later, the Deputy Commissioner inspected the ongoing works at Antaragange hillock.
Construction of a 25,000 litre capacity water tank, restrooms, renovation of puja rooms and other works have been taken up at a cost of Rs 45 lakh.

Tahsildars Dr Venkatesh Murthy and S M Mangala, Taluk Panchayat Executive Officer K S Bhat and other senior officials accompanied the Deputy Commissioner during the trip.