Government releases ` 91.5 lakh to tackle water scarcity in Udupi district

The Udupi district Zilla Panchayat has chalked out several plans to deal with severe water scarcity in this scorching summer.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, ZP CEO Prabhakar Sharma said that about Rs 91.5 lakh has been released to task forces to deal with the drinking water problems in the three taluks. Each task force  has been given Rs 30.50 lakh to take up temporary projects to provide water to the areas facing acute shortage. The arrangements were made in March, he added.

Now, the MLA will head the task force.

Till now, the Executive Officer (EO) of taluk panchayat was in charge of the task force as the model code of conduct was in force due to assembly elections. The EO can chair the meeting and take decisions. The emergency works taken up under the project include extension of pipelines, drilling of borewells and installing pump-sets to draw water from distant areas.

Transportation of water

The CEO added that  56 gram panchayats have sought water in tankers as other measures are likely to be less useful. The CEO forwarded the request to the Deputy Commissioner, who is the sole authority to take the decision.

 He has approved the supply of water through tankers. The GPs requesting water in tankers include  Kedur and Byndoor in Kundapur taluk, Kunjalu and Kalyanpura in Udupi taluk and Kukkunduru and Belmannu in Karkala taluk.

The CEO said that apart from these measures, Rs 31 crore was spent during the current fiscal under permanent drinking water schemes. Multi village drinking water scheme has been initiated in some places.  Major projects like laying of pipelines to distant areas and digging open wells and  borewells were also taken up. Permanent drinking water scheme aims at assuring a person 70 litre per day.

 “As of now, we are struggling to ensure the minimum requirement of water for each person in all hamlets”, said the CEO.

On the other hand, the Udupi CMC is supplying water on alternate days and has managed to strike a balance. CMC Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak said from March 28 water is being supplied on every alternate day and for this purpose the city has been divided into two zones. As many as 20 million litre is supplied every day.

Nayak said the water level in Baje dam is 2.7 metre and with it water can be supplied till May 25. If the level drops below two metre, water will have to be pumped and supplied. Nayak said at present some 20 to 25 houses in the hilly areas like Kakkunje and Santhoshnagar are facing problems.

 Water is supplied through tankers to them. Water release timings will be reduced from 16 hours if the water level drops in the dam, he added.