Once a fertile region, Chikkkaballapur cries for water

Chikkkaballapur district, where eight rivers were flowing once, is reeling under severe drought for several years.

The district has a total of 1,603 lakes. In this, 201 lakes come under Minor Irrigation Department and the rest are in the jurisdiction of Zilla Panchayat. At present, 1,490 lakes have gone dry and the water level in other lakes has become a cause of worry for farmers as well as the officials in the district.

The region has more lakes and nature-made canal network. It was fertile land a few decades ago with hundreds of lakes. But all that is a glory of the past. Lack of will power
of the state government, elected representatives and officials have made the district an arid region.

The agitation launched to seeking a permanent irrigation project for the district has not yielded any result. In fact, there were a series of protests and dharnas. But the district administration has not taken the issue seriously. It has, so far, not proposed any concrete steps for the future too.

Also, the over-exploitation of water in the last three decades has made people face a lot of problems for water supply daily. At some places, people are not finding water even after digging deep up to 2000 foot.

They have petitioned the government and the politicians alike. Each politician speaks about water and development projects at the time of elections, but to no avail later.

The encroachment of lakes and canals has not yet been cleared. Unabated digging of borewells, non-desiltation of lakes and lack of lake revival plans are haunting the district. Of the total borewells dug in the last three months, 60% of them have failed. Still, the money is being spent in the name of digging borewells.