HUBBALLI: People of Adarahalli, a hamlet in Shirahatti taluk of Gadag district, have been drinking water with high fluoride content because their water purification plant has not been repaired by a private agency for months!
The alternative: they have to trudge a couple of km everyday to fetch potable water from a similar purification plant in neighboring Sogihal village or fall ill after drinking contaminated water.
Ditto with people of more than 25 hamlets in the home district of rural development and panchayat raj minister H.K. Patil where water purification plants have developed a snag but remain unattended. The Zilla Panchayat has set up 91 water purification plants in the district and plans to establish another 44 such plants over the next couple of months. Though the local body has spent Rs 2.08 crores to provide mineral water at the rate of 10 paise per liter, the fund has gone down the drain as these units have become defunct due lack of maintenance, raising doubts over the success of state government’s ambitious plan to set up 10,000 water purification plants across Karnataka.
“The officials have failed to repair water purification plant despite several pleas and protests,” bemoaned Ramesh Lamani, a resident of Adarahalli. The Zilla Panchayat has assigned the task of maintenance of these units to private agencies. These agencies have been tasked with running the plants for five years by constructing a building for every purification plant. Much to the chagrin of villagers, these plants, however, do not function as these agencies neglect them because they are not economically viable.
“Panchayat officials are hand-in-glove with private agencies and take bribe from them for awarding contract to maintain water purification plants. Due to this, the agencies stop supervision of plants when repairs are due. The officials have failed to resolve the problem despite several pleas submitted to them”, said Janu Lamani, former president of Shirahatti Taluk Panchayat.
However, Mr Sanjay Shettennavar, chief executive officer, Gadag Zilla Panchayat, said water purification plants have become defunct as villagers are not willing to pay 10 paise per liter. He also said the scheme to set up these plants failed in hamlets as agencies do not get earn enough revenue by supplying water.
