Farmer in Kalaburagi giving away water for free

April 26, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 05:43 am IST - KALABURAGI:

Residents of Kusnur village waiting for their turn to collect water from the house of Shantabai Malipatil in Kalaburagi.—Photo: Arun Kulkarni

Residents of Kusnur village waiting for their turn to collect water from the house of Shantabai Malipatil in Kalaburagi.—Photo: Arun Kulkarni

A farmer, who grows vegetables in Kusnur village on the outskirts of Kalaburagi city, has started providing drinking water to the village from two high yielding borewells on her field.

Shantabai Malipatil, who is also a member of the Kusnur Gram Panchayat, was moved by the plight of the village residents after all the sources of drinking water in the village dried up and efforts to transport drinking water failed.

The two open wells and eight borewells which met the drinking water requirements of the village dried up in December.

Attempts by the authorities to drill more borewells also failed. Repeated pleas with the gram panchayat to start transportation of water did not yield any results.

The panchayat development officer of the gram panchayat stopped visiting the village since January as he was unable to answer the pleas of the residents.

Pumping water

At this stage, Ms. Malipatil decided to pump water from her two high yielding borewells on her six-acre agriculture plot, 500 metres away from the village. Somasekhar Patil,

Ms. Malipatil’s son, told The Hindu on Monday that a 5 HP motor pump was installed and a pipeline was laid from the field to the village at a cost of Rs. 1 lakh to draw water. Water is being drawn in the morning and in the evening and village residents line up with their empty pots to get their share. “On an average, around 1,000 to 1,500 litres of water is provided to each family a day,” Mr. Patil said.

As the available water was sufficient to meet the drinking water requirement of the village, Mr. Patil said that they could not take up cultivation of vegetables on the field.

Apathy

Residents alleged that officials or elected representatives had not visited the village, a stone’s throwaway from Kalaburagi city, to study the drinking water shortage in the village. “We are left to fend for ourselves….”Manikappa Biradar, a resident said.

Shantabai Malipatil, a GP member, was moved by the plight of residents

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