The State government has released ₹220 crore for the immediate repair of roads damaged by the recent heavy rain.
“This is to address the immediate needs. A comprehensive follow-up action will be taken up later,” RDPR Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said here on Tuesday.
He told presspersons in Anigol village that ₹120 crore will go to the Assembly constituency-level task forces, led by MLAs, and the rest will go to zilla panchayats.
“The State government has reached around two-thirds of the target for open defecation-free (ODF) districts. We have declared that 20 of our 30 districts are ODF. We are hoping to get the rest declared ODF this October 2,” he said.
“Now that we have made significant progress on construction, we want to focus on usage also. We are supporting information and education campaign to create awareness about toilet usage,’’ he said. “My feedback is that 90% of those who have built the toilets are using them.”
The government has also noticed that around 1,400 reverse osmosis water purification plants across the State are due for repairs.
“The repairs of around 900 plants are completed and the rest 500 are pending. These will be completed in two weeks. In Belagavi district, as many as 360 plants are due for repairs. Of them, nearly 90% are completed,” he said.
The Minister also said that he had received complaints about plants out of water due to the low yield of borewells.
“In such cases, we have asked the zilla panchayats to fill them with tanker water,” he said.
Earlier, the Minister visited the ongoing works in Naya Nagar, Pattihal K-B and Budarkatti.
He instructed officials to complete the ₹23-crore multi-village drinking water supply scheme in six months.
He also met Fakiravva Anigol, a woman who had converted one of her rooms into a toilet.
Sitting under a tree in front of the GP office in Anigol, he spoke to B.Ed college students, who were acting as Swachh Bharat volunteers, and praised their work.