Govt sweats as Oppn raises water shortage issue

Shortage of drinking water in several districts rocked the Assembly on Monday, with the Opposition accusing the government of not mitigating the sufferings of the people.
Raising the issue, Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar said drinking water shortage was severe particularly in the districts of Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Kalaburagi, Gadag, and Bengaluru Rural, but the government had not conducted even a single meeting to assess the situation.

Shettar said that as per the reports dispatched by deputy commissioners from 15 districts, a total of 3,975 villages in the State faced the threat of acute drinking water shortage in the coming months.

The government was yet to come out with any concrete scheme or plans to tackle the
situation. It had promised that the Yettinahole project would provide a permanent solution to the drinking water crisis in Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural. However, no mention of the project had been made in the budget, Shettar said.
R Ashoka (BJP) said the people of these districts were already on the streets and would revolt if the government failed to come to their rescue. J K Krishna Reddy (JD-S) said people of Kolar were migrating due to the drought-like situation, but the Revenue minister had not even bothered to visit the district. Former minister Basavaraj Bommai suggested that the government should come out with a comprehensive plan for the utilisation of water. Improving efficiency of water utilisation in irrigation would ensure adequate availability for drinking purpose. Of the 59,773 habitations in the State, about 6,791 do not get any water, he said.

Shivalinge Gowda of the JD(S) said the government should drop all its Bhagya schemes and divert all the funds for supplying clean drinking water to people. “People of Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru Rural districts have pinned hopes on Yettinahole project for drinking water. But the project work is going at a snail's pace,” he stated.

Lakshman Savadi of the BJP said the government had not paid the farmers who had implemented the innovative Chikkapadasalagi barrage-filling project using their own funds in Bagalkot district.