Municipality opposes plan to suspend water tanker services

Wants DC to take stock of water crisis in Kolar

An emergency meeting of the city municipal council held here on Thursday, decided to request the deputy commissioner to conduct a survey on water problem in the town before stopping supply of water through tankers.

The councillors said that the water scarcity in the town was assuming grave proportion with every passing day and under such circumstances, it was not right on the part of the deputy commissioner to stop supply of water through tankers. They said that the deputy commissioner should know the ground realities before taking a decision and hence a study should be conducted in this regard. They expressed the apprehension that it would not be possible for them to answer people if the tanker services are suspended.

Councillor Narayanaswamy said that there was a provision to pay the bills of tanker operators out of the funds available with the taskforce headed by the legislator. “The legislator had said that the arrears of water tanker owners will be cleared in three days if his faction comes to power in the municipality. But, he has not kept his promise though it has already been 15 days since his faction came to power in the municipality,” he said.

He said that they would stage a dharna in front of the house of the legislator if the arrears of water tanker operators were not cleared at the earliest. Responding to Narayana- swamy’s charges, councillors Manjunath and C Somashekhar said that some time was required to obtain funds for clearing the dues of tanker operators. They said that the legislator had put pressure on the government for release of funds to the municipality.

The members said that the groundwater had depleted to alarming levels in the district and the yield in borewells had gone down. Therefore, the municipality is dependent on tankers for supply of water. The district administration should make an alternate arrangement for water before suspending tanker supply, the councillors demanded in unison.

Councillor Salauddin Babu said that money available under the Natural Disaster Relief Fund had been diverted for water supply and despite this, only Rs 50 lakh had been paid towards the dues to the tanker operators. He said that the problem had surfaced as the district administration was reserving a specific amount of money for water, every month.

He said that the officials of the municipality were not furnishing comprehensive information to the district administration. The municipal president should discuss the issue with the deputy commissioner and request the latter not to suspend tanker services.

In-charge municipal commissioner Renuka told the meeting that water was being supplied to Kolar town in 125 tankers every day. She said that since money was not available in the Natural Disaster Relief Fund, only Rs 50 lakh had been paid to the tanker operators. The arrears stands at Rs one crore. she said.

The officer said that the municipality was not getting grants since local taxes were not being collected regularly. As much as Rs three crore need to be collected towards water tax. The municipality is facing difficulty even to pay the staff, she elaborated.

Councillor Ravindra said that hotels and nursing homes in the town were consuming more water. Some of them had been drawing water from the main line. He suggested that installation of rainwater harvesting system should be made mandatory for issue of building licence.

S R Muraligowda said that the local body was spending Rs three lakh towards diesel and smelt a rat in the expenditure. Municipal president Mahalakshmi said that she was committed to address drinking water shortage in the town and sought the co-operation of all the members.