Day-to-day review meetings to address drinking water crisis in Karnataka

B D Narayankar reports

Bangalore, Apr 28 (PTI) Karnataka Government would hold
day-to-day review meetings in districts to discuss the
preparedness of officials to tackle drinking water crisis,
Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister H K Patil said
today.
     The meetings would commence from tomorrow in various
districts including Haveri, Belgaum, Davangere, Tumkur,
Chitradurga, Koppala and others, Patil told reporters here.
     He said government had also formed committees to monitor
the situation and asked officials to ensure that no village
faced drinking water scarcity. About Rs 800 crore was
available with the government to tackle drinking water
scarcity. "Funds are not a constraint...," he said.
     He said officials will be held responsible and
disciplinary action initiated against them if they failed to
take immediate steps to ease drinking water problem.
     Patil also instructed higher officials to issue notices
to those officers who were on leave to immediately resume work
to address drinking water problem.
     He said government had pressed into service 702 tankers
in the state to tackle drinking water problem. The government
was also focused on recharging borewells and there were 3,487
borewells pending energising, Patil said.