District Minister Dr. Yathindra chairs meeting
Mysuru: With Mysuru district staring at drinking water crisis following poor rains, District Minister Dr. Yathindra Siddaramaiah has instructed officials to take precautionary steps to ensure that there is no drinking water shortage in the future.
He was speaking after chairing a meeting at MCC Zone-3 office in Sharadadevinagar here yesterday.
Stating that the district has recorded a 58 percent rain deficit so far this year, Dr. Yathindra said the situation has improved with rains reported from many parts of the district for the past three days resulting in a significant increase in water level at several reservoirs. “The officials should use the water discharged from dams for filling up lakes and other water bodies that are starved of water. There are chances that the district may face a drought-like situation for a few more months from now on. As such, they should be prepared for tackling drought in the most appropriate manner without showing any laxity. The filling up of water bodies will push up borewell recharge in rural areas. However, the scenario is different in urban areas, where alternatives are to be thought for recharging dried borewells”, he noted.
Continuing, he said that there are chances of epidemic diseases breaking out in the wake of drought. As such, it is essential that the source of drinking water be checked for any bacterial or chemical contents, he pointed out.
Referring to farming, Dr. Yathindra said the farmers have been already told not to grow water consuming crops and other commercial crops. In this backdrop, the farmers are appealed to co-operate by growing climate resilient crops such as Ragi, Jowar, Millets etc.,
Expressing apprehension that borewells may get dried if drought continues, he said that officials must deploy tankers to supply drinking water.
Chamundeshwari MLA G.T. Devegowda said the district administration must ensure that all lakes are filled up with water and asked officials to take steps for proper disposal of wastes in areas coming under MCC and other urban local bodies.
Deputy Commissioner G. Lakshmikanth Reddy said that drinking water is being supplied to six wards in Hootagalli CMC, two wards in Bogadi TMC and to five wards in Rammanahalli TMC by deploying tankers. Pointing out that farmers had done sowing in a total of 2,22,000 hectares across the district last year, the DC said that, however, this year, the sowing has been done in only 1,66,000 hectares due to poor rainfall.
MLA Darshan Dhruvanarayan, ZP CEO S. Ukesh Kumar, MCC Commissioner M.K. Savitha and other officials were present.
