160 villages in Bangarpet face acute water shortage

Reports to district administration downplay situation

There is acute water shortage in the taluk. People are struggling to get water even from tankers. 

Five major tanks in the taluk, Bethamangala, Ramsagar, Mushtarahalli, Vrushabhavathi and Markandeya have dried up. More than 53 villages have dried up completely. The citizens are either totally dependant on tankers or forced to get water from the neighbouring villages.

Especially, getting water itself has become the main work of women here. Fed up by problems of lack of  water, people are visiting the Taluk Panchayat office and submitting memorandums asking to supply water. But not avail till now.

Negligence

The people’s representatives and officers concerned are still preparing list of statistics to submit it to the government. They are still trying to pacify the people by announcing that the grants are released to tackle water crisis. But it has so far remained on the paper and no action is taken to solve the problem, the residents say.

Many residents of Bangarpet are dependent on agriculture and have cattle and for some live on animal husbandry. Water scarcity has affected even the cattle and domesticated animals.

There is no fodder even in gomala. Miscreants have destroyed the remaining dried grass by setting fire to it, making the farmers feel worse for not being able to feed the animals.

Disappointment

The government is trying to supply water to various villages through tankers. But the tanker owners have expressed disappointment over supplying water as the government is yet to pay Rs 28 lakh to them for the earlier supplies. 

In this condition we do not want to spend our own money for diesel and labour to supply water and then ask them to pay the amount. Even private borewell owners have the same opinion.

It is also said that the government is not bothered about opening goshalas. Instead, the officers have submitted a report to the district administration stating, the situation is not that bad and there is no need to open a goshala immediately. The report is far from truth, lament the farmers.

Problems in the town

Citizens in Bangarpet town are also affected by the water crisis. The Municipality is supplying water to Bangarpet only once in a month and twice a month to Kolar Gold Fields. 

People depend on tanker water here. They are forced to spend huge amount of money to get water. Though some of them have borewells, they have to depend on tanker for drinking water.

Even in this condition, some private trusts are supplying drinking water for free through 10 tankers to the some villages in Bangarpet.