Row over water supply to Mysore settled

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, MAY 28. The row over water between the farmers of Mandya District and the people of Mysore city was amicably settled with the former agreeing to allow the Belagola pumping station to function from Saturday night following discussions at Palahalli, Belagola and surrounding areas in Mandya District. A settlement was reached after the farmers realised that blocking the supply of water to Mysore would not help as the water flow from the head of the reservoir was not strong enough to reach their fields.

The Mayor, Mr. Narayan, told The Hindu that water supply would become normal in most areas by Monday. However, the 36 water tankers supplying drinking water to the affected areas would be retained by the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) till the crisis was resolved. Mysore city, which used to receive nearly 32 million gallons of water per day (mgd), was getting only about 12 mgd during the past two weeks, causing acute shortage of drinking water.

Senior officials and politicians of Mandya and Mysore held prolonged discussions with the farmers, and prevailed upon them to end the crisis. The farmers were reportedly convinced that water would not reach their fields despite efforts by the administration. They felt that there was no need to block water supply to Mysore as the water would not flow to their fields through the canals beyond 12 km because of the low level in the reservoir.

The leaders of the farmers have given 20 days' time to the authorities to make arrangements to supply drinking water to Mysore directly from the river bed. They have threatened to break the pipelines if the authorities failed to make a permanent arrangement within the stipulated time. Mr. Narayan said the work on the new pipelines laid for the purpose would be completed within the next five days. The water would be pumped into the treatment plant near Hongalli and later released for drinking purposes. The new pipelines would enable the authorities to supply nearly 12 mgd of water every day, the Mayor added.

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Section  : Southern States
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