Claiming that the district was facing one of the most severe droughts seen in the last 44 years, Water Resources and district in-charge Minister M.B. Patil has said that Almatti and Narayanpur dams together have only 37 tmcft of water left. This will last for less than forty days, he said.
“The situation is so grim that if the district fails to receive good rain in the coming days, we will face an acute shortage of even drinking water, leave alone water for irrigation,” he said.
Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, he said that the district has received 52 per cent deficient rain this year, owing to which Vijayapura had become the most extensively drought-affected district in the State.
Mr. Patil said that three days ago, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a ten-hour-long exhaustive meeting with the top officials of all districts and Ministers to review the drought situation in the State.
“During the meeting, the Chief Minister collected details from each district and issued directions to tackle the drought in an effective manner by giving priority to drinking water,” he said.
Land acquisition
Referring to the dharna launched by the district BJP unit at Almatti against the Congress, accusing the government of failing to initiate land acquisition for completing irrigation projects under Upper Krishna Project stage-III, Mr. Patil blamed the BJP government at the Centre for delay in the process.
“Because of the adamant attitude to the BJP government at the Centre, the State government here could not start the land acquisition process,” Mr. Patil said.
