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Zilla panchayat members demanded that one generator should be given to every grama panchayat, in the wake of recurring power failures and escalating water woes in the district, here on Monday.

At a meeting held to discuss the water woes of the district, ZP members discussed the alternative arrangements of water supply and complained about the lethargy of officials in responding to the problems in the district.

ZP member Pushpa Amarnath demanded additional water tankers to supply water to villages affected most by the drought in the district. She alleged that the drought relief fund declared by the state government was not received, which affected the relief work in the district. She proposed that Multi-Village Water Supply Scheme should be implemented in all villages of the district, to tackle such crisis in the future.

Water from bore-wells should be restricted for drinking water only. It should not be used for any other purpose. Digging additional borewells to ease the water problem will not help, she said.

Oppositon leader Maruthi said that officials were not coming to the aid of water scarce villages. With power cuts the situation has worsened in the district, he said.
Zilla panchayat member Kempanna advised that water management should be done on the basis of population. Few members noted that reducing excessive usage of water while bathing and washing clothes will help in managing water shortage during this period of drought. 

ZP members complained about the standards employed by agencies in repairing borewells and hand pumps in the district. “The agencies employed use sub-standard equipment to repair these water bodies. After a few days of repair the bore-wells will have the same problem,” they said.

Protests

Zilla panchayat meeting witnessed two protests during the meeting. The first was to protest the decision by the Supreme Court to release 2.44 TMC water to Tamil Nadu, in which all parties took part.

The second was by the members of Congress, who threatened to boycott the meeting as ‘proper details of the water problem in the district was not furnished by officials at the meeting’.  Zilla panchayat president K P Siddaveerappa pacified the protestors. After a while, details on “Existing Water Supply Facilities - 2012-13”, furnished details only of 35 grama panchayats in Mysore Taluk. Zilla Panchayat consists of 235 grama panchayats, spread over seven taluks.