Chitradurga Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Sathyabama has instructed officers in Hiriyur taluk to take immediate steps to ensure proper supply of drinking water to border areas of the taluk as residents are going through a difficult situation owing to scanty rainfall and depletion of groundwater in all the taluks of the district.
Speaking after paying a visit to Khandenhalli and surrounding villages in Hiriyur taluk of the district on Wednesday, she said that the officers concerned should hold meetings at regular intervals to review the situation in the taluk, especially in the border areas.
“The Chief Secretary has advised the officers at the district level to opt for methods to deepen existing borewells, instead of drilling new ones. So the officers concerned should concentrate on deepening the existing borewells,” she added. The gram panchayat members should ensure proper supply of drinking water to Khandenhalli village by hiring a water tanker which should have GPS facility as it is mandatory.
To an appeal from the residents to find a permanent solution to the drinking water problem, the CEO said that a project to supply water to 116 villages in Hiriyur taluk is nearing completion and another proposal of ₹ 175 crore has been sent to the State government for providing drinking water to 170 villages. Work on this project would commence soon after approval is given by the government, she added.
The residents and gram panchayat members of the village appealed to the CEO not to transfer Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) as it would become difficult to implement development works and managed the drinking water supply in the village.