Mysore/Mysuru: Social Welfare and Mysuru District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa instructed the Officers to stay alert by ensuring that no water crisis erupts in the district, with due priority to use water sources only to meet drinking water requirements.

He was speaking during a meeting on handling drought situation with Officers at Zilla Panchayat (ZP) Hall in the city on Monday.

“As per forecast, the drought situation is expected to turn worse and instructions have been issued to take necessary action with the Government already announcing drought hit districts in the State. In this backdrop, we have to take precautions to prevent water crisis and water should be drawn from the sources only for the purpose of supplying drinking water. The drinking water should not be used for any other purposes,” he said.

The villages and localities facing drinking water crisis should be identified and precautions should be taken before the situation turns worse. The District and Taluk Administrations should be ready to tackle the situation and respond speedily especially in the case of water for people and to feed the livestock, said Dr. Mahadevappa.

Continuing, the Minister said: “Instead of drilling new borewells for drinking water purpose, steps must be taken to repair existing borewells and supply water by fixing the pump. There have been complaints related to water everywhere and during such a situation not a drop of water should be wasted by using it judiciously. The people should be sensitised about using water and private borewells should be used during emergency situations.”

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Dr. K.V. Rajendra said: “It has been instructed to take steps to address drinking water crisis. Besides, the Officers have been directed to collect information about the villages and localities that faced drinking water crisis earlier and take measures to prevent the situation from going out of hand this time. The pump sets installed at lake beds have been cleared and awareness has been created against using drinking water for farm needs. If the situation warrants, water from Harangi and Hemavathy dams will also be used.”

Ranjith Kumar, Executive Engineer of Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, said: “Presently two villages are facing drinking water crisis and water is being supplied through private borewells. In the coming days, 134 villages may face the crisis and water is supplied to 36 villages among them daily.”

Dr. M.P. Purnananda, Assistant Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Department, said: “The available fodder stock can take care of cattle feed for 34 weeks. The fodder kits will be supplied to farmers, with already 72,113 kits supplied to them. However, there is no plan to open Goshala or Fodder Bank, but preliminary arrangements are made to address the situation. While inter-district transport of fodder has been prohibited.”

Joint Director of Agriculture Chandrashekar said: “There was a shortage of cotton seeds during pre-monsoon season, along with less quality. As many as 1.2 lakh packets of cotton seeds are available at Raitha Samparka Kendras. While Rs. 2,000 each totalling Rs. 15.83 crore has been deposited in the accounts of 88,620 farmers under drought relief.”

Dial Control Room

To receive complaints related to drinking water from rural areas of Mysuru, 24×7 Control Room has been opened at Zilla Panchayat (ZP) in the city. People can lodge the complaints on Ph: 0821-2526355. To supervise adequate drinking water supply at all the taluks in the district, ZP has appointed Nodal Officers at each taluks as follows, according to ZP CEO K.M. Gayathri.

• ZP Deputy Secretary (Administration) for Mysuru and Periyapatna taluks – Ph: 0821-2526321 or Mob: 94808-73002.

• Deputy Secretary (Development) for Nanjangud, H.D. Kote and Sargur taluks – Ph: 0821-2526354 or Mob: 94806-73666.

• Planning Director (DRDA) for T. Narasipur taluk – Ph: 0821-2526355 or Mob: 94808-73001.

• Chief Planning Officer for K.R. Nagar and Saligrama taluks – Ph: 0821-2526308 or Mob: 94808-73004.

• Chief Accounts Officer for Hunsur taluk – Ph: 0821-2526302 or Mob: 94808-73003.