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Heated debate over water crisis in CMC meeting


Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Apr 02, 2017: The Udupi City Municipality Council’s general body meeting, councillors urged the civic body to stop water supply to neighbouring Panchayats in view of severe shortage of water in Udupi town.


CMC meeting


Raising the issue, Opposition party councillor Yashpal Suvarna said decrease in water level at Baje reservoir has resulted in acute shortage of water. Everyday, the CMC is issuing one or the other confusing statements over the level of water in the reservoir and no meeting has been convened to discuss the problem. Water supplied through tankers is not potable. Besides, the

Member Ramesh Kanchan said officials tackle the water problem meticulously. There is no biased approach towards supplying water to the respective wards, he claimed.

BJP councilor Harish Ram said water has not been supplied for ten days and questioned whether the CMC was sleeping.

Later, councillors of the ruling and Opposition parties engaged in a heated argument over water problem. The opposition party members demanded a clarification from CMC officials over the water level in Baje reservoir.

Environment engineer Raghavendra said the present water level in Baje reservoir is 3.31 metres. The water level was the same on April 24, 2016. It means a similar situation has arisen early this year. There is a need to manage the available water up to June 5. Every house will receive water if the water is pumped for 23 hours. But, water will be exhausted in a couple of weeks. Hence there is a need to pump only for 12 hours, which is now increased to 15 hours, he explained.

KUDCEMP Stage-I

Engineer Ganesh said 355 apartments are added to the list prepared during the KUDCEMP first stage programme. All measures have been taken to handle the crisis. Hiriyadka Gram Panchayat will be convinced to lift water near the bridge at Mane, he said.

To pump water for three hours and cover all the requirements, there is a need for 15 mld water. But at present only 3 mld water is pumped for three hours. Besides, there are many technical problems like congestion in the distribution and main pipes, he added.

CMC commissioner Manjunathaiah said dredging is not feasible as the riverbed is filled by a large quantity of pebbles than the sand according to a hydrological survey. Even after dredging, the quantity of water procured will last only for two or three days. The dredging will cost Rs 2 crore, he said.

Former CMC president Yuvaraj said two meetings were called to discuss the issue and the Opposition members did not turn out.

The members said that the water supplied to the Panchayats should be stopped immediately as there is acute shortage of water in the city limits.

The commissioner said water supply cannot be discontinued all of sudden to neighbouring seven Panchayats as there are certain inevitable obligations.

The opposition members rushed to well of the House demanding immediate solution to the water crisis and clarification over the measures taken to tackle the problem. BJP councilor Suvarna showed disrespect to the nominated member Janardhan Bhandarkar.