Water woes dominate DC's phone-in event

Panchayat raj and engineering dept directed to act on priority basis

With the onset of summer, drinking water related woes topped the monthly phone-in programme held at the deputy commissioner’s office here on Thursday. Among the total 14 calls received on the phone, a majority of them complained about erratic water supply.

Shivaraj from Hylapura in Periyapatna taluk in the district complained about the growing water crisis in the village. According to him water is supplied according to the whims and fancy of authorities concerned. At times, there is no guarantee of getting water even once in a week. In addition to this, the lack of proper roads and the absence of underground drainage system had made the situation much worse. The burial ground in the village had been encroached upon by others, he said.

H M Mahadeva Swamy from Hampapura in H D Kote taluk complained about not receiving water from the past two weeks. He sought the intervention of deputy commissioner in solving the crisis, as the livestock were deprived of water.

Balakrishna from Yelwal brought to the notice of the deputy commissioner that the waste dumped from meat shops were finding place in the middle of the road, due to stray dogs. The stray dogs were bringing the chicken and mutton waste to the roads, after finding the same dumped in an unscientific manner by the vendors. Such vendors should be served notices, and cleanliness at the village should be undertaken under the banner of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan.
Kashi from Hullahalli said that though there were complaints about unabated illegal sand mining and transportation, the competent authorities had turned a blind eye. This had impacted the construction works.

K P Chikkaswamy from Kadanahalli, Jayapura hobli alleged that there was no Anganwadi in the village which had 30 to 40 households. There was also a fear of epidemics spreading in the village, he said.

Taking note of the complaints, Deputy Commissioner C Shikha said that there were chances of drinking water related woes spiralling in the coming months. The panchayat raj and engineering department should act on the priority by supplying water through tankers at those villages badly hit by water supply. Measures should be initiated to identify the villages where there is a cry for water and prepare an action plan and submit the same either to the offices of zilla panchayat chief executive officer or the deputy commissioner.

On the other types of complaints received over phone, the deputy commissioner said that the tahsildar would inspect the burial ground that has been encroached upon at Hylapura. For water related complaint at Hampapura, the officer promised to send an assistant executive engineer from the department of panchayat raj and engineering to take stock of the situation.The official promised to serve notices on the meat vendors who have been dumping the waste generated at the shop in an unscientific manner.

For illegal sand mining related complaints, the deputy commissioner said the district administration had been waiting for a clearance from the government for its proposal to extract sand from Thoremavu and Himmavu villages in Nanjangud taluk in the district. The demand for sand was expected to be addressed if the new extraction points are  commissioned.

The Women and Child Development department was directed to look into the demand for Anganwadi kendra in Jayapura hobli.

Apart from the complaints, 33 grievances were submitted to the deputy commissioner following the phone-in.