Be prepared with sand bags to plug breached tanks: Lakshminarayana

District in-charge secretary M Lakshminarayana has directed officials to be prepared with temporary measures to store water in breached lakes in the district.

During a drought relief progress review meeting at the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Friday, Lakshminarayana directed officials to be ready with a minimum of 1,000 sand bags to plug the breach of tanks in the district. The breached bunds should be temporarily repaired with sand bags within a day of damage, he said.

According to officials, seven tanks have breached in parts of the district due to heavy rain this week. While the bunds of one tank each in Mysuru, T Narasipur and H D Kote taluks, have been breached due to heavy rain, no tanks have been breached in Nanjangud, Hunsur, Periyapatna and K R Nagar taluks. However, a few tanks had breached in Periyapatna in July but temporary measures had been taken to store the water, officials said.

Lakshminarayana also directed officials to take up strengthening works on the damaged tanks before the commencement of the next monsoon.

‘No drinking water problem’

Deputy Commissioner D Randeep informed the secretary that there is no drinking water problem as the district has received a good spell of rain. “As of now, no water tankers are being used to supply drinking water. Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), which has 65 wards, has kept 20 water tankers ready and some more have been arranged in Hunsur town too. They will be used in case of emergency,” the DC informed.

The officials are hopeful that the city will not face a drinking water problem till the next monsoon as the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam in Srirangapatna has crossed the 100 feet water level. The water level was 102 ft on Thursday evening, officials said.

During the summer season, Rs 1.56 crore has been spent to supply water in the district. As many as 913 drinking water projects were taken up under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). Drinking water problems in 400 places, including, towns and villages, have been addressed, the officials explained.

Animal Husbandry department officials informed that there is sufficient fodder for cattle in the district. Owing to rain, farmers have cultivated fodder, they said.