Water situation in state grim, will discuss it with CM today: DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru: Terming the water situation in Karnataka grave owing to the failure of the monsoon, Energy Minister and in-charge of Mandya district D.K. Shivakumar said he will be meeting CM Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru on Tuesday following a demand from farmers of Mandya that water should be released from KRS dam to save their crops.
Talking to DC after participating in the Irrigation Consultative Committee (ICC) meeting at Krishna Raja Sagar on Monday, the minister said the situation was quite grim.
The water available in Cauvery basin reservoirs was just 15 tmc ft as against the required 40 tmc ft. Of the available 15 tmcft, they need to reserve 10 tmcft to meet the drinking water requirements of Bengaluru till May-June next year.
“The ground reality is really scary.. while farmers are demanding water to save their crops, the authorities fear a shortage for Bengaluru and Mysuru next summer. It is a piquant situation, I am meeting the CM to discuss what should be done,” he added.
He said that farmers cannot be blamed as they went ahead with sowing of water consuming crops like paddy and sugarcane following prediction of normal rainfall by IMD. Now, farmers want the government to release water to save their crops .
‘Give us water’
Earlier, hundreds of farmers and local workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party met Mr Shivakumar and wanted him to direct the irrigation authorities to continue release of water to save at least one crop. They urged the government to stop release of water to Tamil Nadu since the KRS reservoir was yet to get filled to the brim.
Cultural show theme irks minister
A colourful dance by children was stopped abruptly by Energy Minister and in-charge of Mandya district D.K. Shivakumar for displaying the portraits of three government officers who committed suicide recently.
As part of the 70th Independence Day celebrations, the children of a local school in Mandya were dancing to the tunes of Kannada film songs. One of the songs was 'Huttodyake sayodyake (why you should be born and why you should die without achieving the desired aim) from a movie 'Shanthi-Kranthi', starring Crazy Star Ravichandran.
The kids were dancing holding the portraits of IAS officer D.K. Ravi, Deputy Superintendents of Police M.K. Ganapathi and Kallappa Handibag who had all committed suicide.
The red-faced minister who was irked over the display of the portraits of those three officers, summoned Deputy Director of Public Instruction Shivamadappa and took him to task for allowing the kids to dance with the portraits.
The panic-stricken authorities abruptly turned off the song much to the confusion of the kids who thought the song might have stopped due to sudden power failure.
Later, an officer went to the ground to inform the kids to stop the dance without telling them the reason. A local television channel cameraman who was capturing the events, was also directed by Mr Shivakumar to stop filming the dance.
It may be mentioned here that the suicides of the three officers had not only embarrassed the government but also made Bengaluru development minister K.J. George tender his resignation after DySP Ganapathi mentioned his name in a television interview before committing suicide last month.
