Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (JD)

Udupi, March 10: The issue of shortage of drinking water and its supply under Udupi city municipality area was raised by the members of city municipality council during its monthly meeting.

T G Hegde, member of Shiribeedu ward raised the issue of adequate supply of drinking water and said “We have to face people and many houses in my ward are facing drinking water shortage. Supply of drinking water daily is affected. Provide us a solution to this problem.”

Supporting the issue, Ramesh Kanchan, opposition leader said, “In my ward also 14 houses are affected due to shortage of drinking water supply. This problem is faced for more than a week now, I have also brought this to the notice of concerned authorities but officials are giving reasons that include providing new water connections to those houses under Varahi drinking water supply project. But no work is being done in this regard as well. My sincere request to the president is to appoint a dedicated officer for the water supply purpose for the next three months as we may face shortage of drinking water supply due to the summer."

Vijayalakshmi, member of Saralebettu ward and other council members supported the cause and explained the problems faced by their respective wards.  

Answering the question, Sumithra Nayak, president, CMC said “We have sufficient water available in Baje dam. Due to the heat wave water is getting absorbed and dried. So we are utilising it judiciously.”

Clarifying on the shortage of water supply, AW Engineer Yashwanth said, “Last year the inflow of water was stopped on March 9, but this year it was stopped on January 25 itself. So we are controlling with the supply. If not controlled water will be drained in April itself."

Addressing the issue, Dr Udaykumar Shetty, commissioner, Udupi CMC said, “If we continue with the same flow system for the next few months we will have sufficient water for usage only till May 15. Due to the intense heat conditions the amount of water evaporation has also increased. To meet this issue on a trial basis we have cut the supply of water from the last three days. Due to this some houses in the upper areas are affected. This problem will be solved within two days. Pipelines are also damaged due to the continued work in many parts. We are taking all the necessary precautions.”

Ramesh Kanchan also raised the issue of road digging in Sharada Kalyana Mantapa area which was followed by protests by AW Engineer Yashwanth. Addressing the issue, he said, “The road is being developed under Nagarothana project. It was a 25-year-old concrete road. We have dug up the road which was damaged. When we were about to complete the digging work of the last 20 mtrs social worker Nithyananda Volakdu protested against it and stopped the work. But now when the new road will be constructed it will not be matched and issues may arise."

MLA Raghupathi Bhat called for pacifying the protester and to finish the work as per plan. Girish Anchan, councilor of the concerned ward also gave a clarification on the issue. He said, “Earlier in our neighboring ward a private person had put UGD system which was ultimately connected to Shardamba junction UGD. Many other UGD connections were attached to this line and it was causing outflow in some areas and the waste water was entering nearby fields. To solve this issue we laid a new pipeline for UGD and the work of the same is completed. In this process the concrete road was completely damaged. I have respect to the said social worker, but I have faced accusations in this issue. If we do not take up development work also we face criticism” he said.

Laxmi Manjunath Kola, vice-president and other council members were present on the occasion.