Wellness on wheels for borewells

With just a little innovation, things can be made better for the suffering thousands in rural areas in drought-like situations.

This has been proved once again by the district administration.
 
Two old buses have been procured from the KSRTC and put into use as mobile repair vehicles for borewells and to overcome any other technical problems encountered in the drinking water supply projects.

Hitherto, it took a long time for the technical personnel to reach places where borewells have gone out of order. The mobile workshops have ensured that the borewells are fit for use within a few hours, say officials of the engineering department of the Zilla Panchayat.

One bus from the Kolar depot was purchased at Rs 3,71,126, while the other was bought for Rs 3,16,329 from the Hassan depot. A control room has been set up at the district headquarters to take calls from people regarding borewells going defunct. The control room has so far received 51 SoS calls.

Spare parts and tools required for the repair work and for undertaking tasks like flushing and recharging the borewells are provided in the mobile workshops, said Deputy Commissioner Tulasi Maddineni.

Trained personnel also form part of the mobile workshops. When a call is made to the control room, details like the village where the problem is encountered and the nature of the problem are taken down. The information is passed on to the officials concerned.

The officials, in turn, send the buses to the spot of bother. While one bus travels in the villages of Kushtagi and Yelburga taluks, the other caters to the needs of people in Koppal and Gangavati taluks.

An official said on condition of anonymity that all problems are not resolved with the sending of the mobile workshops. There is a possibility of the problems recurring.

It is in this light that people should also take care of borewells and other equipment installed towards providing better water supply, the official said.