JOIN USThe officers have been asked to attend the meeting with suggestions on clearing the encroachment of raja kaluve, desilting of water bodies and recharging ground water table. The decisions taken at the meeting will be implemented at the earliest, Deputy Commissioner N Prabhakar has said. The meeting was scheduled to be held in the first week of this month.
Rain water is not reaching the water bodies as raja kaluves have been encroached upon. Large quantity of silt has deposited in tanks, which are also not spared of encroachment. The undesirable ‘development’ is posting the threat of impending acute water scarcity in the City. The district administration has taken a step to chalk out strategies to redress water scarcity by tackling all these issues.
Union Minister of State for Railways, K H Muniyappa in a press meet in September had said a special meeting will be called in 15 days to discuss measures for conservation of ground water in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts.
The minister had also said that a three-day workshop will also be held. “Decisive and effective programmes to check depletion of water level in both the districts is the need of the hour. Hence, a meeting of scientists, agricultural experts and farmers will be held in a span of two weeks and instruction will be issued to the Deputy Commissioner, accordingly,” the minister had said. However, no meeting was held within fifteen days. And now, the scope of the present meeting is restricted to Kolar district alone.
The Deputy Commissioner has categorically stated that cleaning the encroachment of raja kaluve tops the agenda of the meeting. He has not given any clear information on participation of experts and scientists in the meeting. Thus, it appears that there is no correlation between the meeting the minister had proposed to call and the one now being held.
Report ready?
The minister had directed the Deputy Commissioner and Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer to prepare a comprehensive report on the problems relating to groundwater and farming, in the district.
A proposal would be formulated based on the report, and the outcome of the meeting with experts. However, there is no whisper of the report as of now.
Not withstanding the contradictions, the issue of grave import could be redressed only if determined efforts are made.
The scheduled meeting should come out with an action plan on clearing the encroachment of raja kaluve and recharge of ground water table to ward off an impeding acute scarcity of potable water.