Rural water supply project awaits break from COVID-19

Mysuru, Hassan and Gadag are likely to be among districts where the government’s ambitious “Mane Manege Gange” scheme to provide tap water connection to 10 lakh households will be rolled out.

But work on this scheme will start only after the coronavirus situation eases, officials said.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had announced this scheme in his March 5 Budget. It will be taken up under the Centre’s “Jal Jeevan Mission.” The state government has earmarked Rs 1,100 crore for the project and half of this will come from the Centre.

While the project will pan over four years, the government has targeted providing tap water connection to 10 lakh rural households in 2020-21. A team from the state government will head to Delhi later this month, if the COVID-19 lockdown is relaxed, to present an action plan on how the scheme will be implemented.

“We’re prioritising those districts that already have multi-village water supply schemes,” Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Principal Secretary L K Atheeq said, listing Mysuru, Chamarajnagar, Hassan and Gadag as examples. “Ultimately, we need a sustainable water source.”

Over the years, Karnataka has implemented 477 multi-village schemes as they are seen as cheap and more effective in providing water supply. They range in size and complexity covering a small group of villages or hundreds of them widely scattered. The schemes rely on water sources that are local (tubewells) and remote (canals or rivers). Of the 477, some 45 have become dysfunctional due to design flaws as they relied on unsustainable water sources.

Simultaneously, the government will go ahead with its Jaladhare project, which aims to find a “permanent solution to the drinking water problem.”

With this project, the government is looking to shift from groundwater-based supply to surface water-based supply. To begin with, the project will be taken up in Vijayapura and Mandya at a cost of Rs 700 crore. Authorities have identified the Almatti and Narayanpura reservoirs as the source in Vijayapura and the KRS in Mandya.

Atheeq explained the difference between Mane Mange Gange and Jaladhare thus: “As long as we provide functional household tap connection, it is Mane Mange Gange. Jaladhare will be bulk supply of water for villages requiring creation of new infrastructure.”

Karnataka has 60,248 rural habitations across 28,970 villages. For drinking water, about 48,000 habitations depend on borewells that are not reliable and have quality issues. Some 11,900 habitations depend on multi-village water supply schemes.