Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Nov 25: Replying to a question at the Karnataka Development Programme review meeting held at the zilla panchayat office here on Tuesday November 24, district deputy commissioner (DC), V Ponnuraj, said that survey will be conducted immediately and report on the areas that will get inundated due to the second phase of the Tumbe vented dam, being executed to augment drinking water supply to the city, will be presented within a month.

The City Corporation had stated that 62 hectares of land will get submerged because of increasing the height of the Tumbe dam to seven metres. Karnataka Water Supply and Sewerage Board claims that 170 hectares will go under water, while the people feel that the rising levels of water will cover over 250 acres of agricultural land.

The DC informed that the managing director of the Board will visit the places and conduct verification. One of the opinions that have emerged, is that the submerging of land can be regulated by constructing a check dam at the place where canals meet, he said. About the relief for the victims of natural calamities in the district, he clarified that the administration is not empowered to go out of the way and sanction relief in violation of the guideline issued by the central government. “We can only request the state government to release additional relief,” he added.

MLAs, K Abhaychandra Jain and B Ramanath Rai, apart from MLC, Kota Srinivas Poojary, drew the attention of the concerned to the fact that houses are not being sanctioned under Indira Awaz and Ashraya schemes, after they were shifted to Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation.

District in-charge minister, Krishna J Palemar, instructed the officials to ensure that the electric transformers of the commercial and residential complexes in the city are located inside the respective premises, to cut down trees that block road widening and to repair all the roads before the commencement of Vishwa Tulu Sammelan. He said that the government will be requested to nationalize the bus routes in the district, as the private bus owners have obtained a stay order from the court against running of buses to rural places.

Zilla panchayat president, Santosh Kumar Bhandary, vice-president, H Jagannath Salian, standing committee chairpersons, Rajasri Hegde, Sadanand Malli and Venkat Dambekody, city mayor, M Shankar Bhat and zilla panchayat chief executive officer, P Shivshankar, were present.