Kabini water to city by October first week still a pipe dream

Centre to release remaining funds only after city corporation

Medical education and district in-charge minister S A Ramdas has assured supply of Kabini water to more than 14 areas of Mysore within Dasara, which he says is a gift to the people on the occasion.

However, a reality check by Deccan Herald shows that it could still be a pipe dream. An officer involved in the project, told this paper that the project would not be complete without Mysore City Corporation (MCC) releasing the matching grant of Rs 10 crore for the purpose.

In fact the minister during his previous inspection had promised to supply water from Kabini to south belt of Mysore region from first week of September. But the water project at Bidarugodu of Nanjangud taluk still remains incomplete with few works pending. This was amply clear during the minister’s visit to the project site on Saturday.

Inspecting the project taken up by Jyothi Limited of Baroda and GKC Project limited of Hyderabad, Ramdas said that supply of drinking water would definitely be a gift on the occasion of 401st Dasara.

The electric pump installation which had to be completed within last week of August, would be started from Saturday.

Three pumps would be erected among which two would be used on regular basis while the other one would remain as a spare for emergency use.

Estimated cost

For the project of a total cost of Rs 108.05 crore under JNNURM, 80 per cent (Rs 88 crore) of the amount would be funded by Central government, 10 per cent by State (Rs 10.8 crore) and another 10 per cent (Rs 10.8 crore) by MCC.

Elaborating on the project, an official associated with it said, Mysore City Corporation had not released the grants, which is one of the reasons for delay in completion of the project.

Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board has spent about Rs 10 crore apart from Rs 65 crore released from Centre.

The Central government had to release the amount in four installments, and it has released three instalments so far. The other one would be sanctioned only after the local body clears it’s due. Land acquisition procedure also was a major hurdle during the beginning of the project.

Capacity

Out of the 180 MLD water to be supplied after the completion of the project, the trial session in October first week would supply 60 MLD of water from two pumps. The remaining would be released in later stages. 

The official stressed that completion depends on release of funds from MCC.  However, as the superstructure of the building is complete and minor civil works can be completed, it will not be abandonded due to non-release of funds by MCC.

After completion of the project it would cover Srirampura, JP Nagar, Mahadepaura, Ramakrishnanagar, Kuvempunagar, Thonchikoppal, Vijayanagar, Dattagalli, Vidyanagar, Chamundipuram, Vishweshwaranagar, Vidyaranyapuram, Bogadi, R T Nagar, Najangud road and would benefit 33 enroute villages by installing borewells to provide 4.5 MLD of water. 

The JNNURM project was planned ten years ago but the work began only four years back.
Mayor M C Rajeshwari, deputy mayor Mahadevappa, MCC commissioner M R Ravi, Superintendent engineer Krishna, executive engineer of Nurm S Subbe Gowda and others were present.