Daijiworld Media Network- Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru Mar 30: "Dakshina Kannada district faces acute shortage of water, and certain precautionary measures have been taken to tackle water crisis in the district," said chief whip of legislative council Ivan D'Souza, addressing the media on here on Thursday, March 30.

"Even during the recently concluded assembly session in Bengaluru water problems have been prioritized. Orders have been passed to concerned officials to deal with the water crisis,"  he said.

Ivan further said, "For the first time in history, Mangaluru and Bantwal taluks in Dakshina Kannada district were listed among the 160 drought-hit taluks in the state. Rs 13 crore has been allotted for drought-hit areas and Rs 3 crore has been sanctioned so far. Water level at Thumbay is 4.7 meter and is sufficient for 30 days. The water level at AMR dam is 18m. Earlier,  15 MGD of water was allotted for industrial purposes. But due to the water crisis, it has been cut down to 10."

At present 60 borewells are functional. The government has also sanctioned the digging up of additional borewells for a provision of water to the public. Nearly 34 borewell points have been identified. Out of them, work on 24 borewells is in progress. There are 5,868 borewells in the entire district in which 5168 borewells are situated in rural areas, and remaining 700 borewells are situated in urban areas. There are 1,568 vented dams in the district, out of which 427 need to be repaired, and the government has sanctioned 2.32 crores to repair such vented dams," he added.

When asked about Bondel and Kadri pipe burst, Ivan said, "It was not brought to my notice. It should not have happened during this water crisis."

Meanwhile, Ivan D Souza distributed cheques to 23 beneficiaries, worth Rs 13,57,737 totally from the chief minister's fund.