Rs100 crore to solve Bangalore's water woes

The state government will allocate Rs100 crore to tackle water crisis in Bangalore this summer, Karnataka Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda has announced.

After Janata Darshan this Friday, he told presspersons that he was aware of water shortage in the new areas of the BBMP. He said the BWSSB officials had informed him about the situation and added that the government would take steps to ensure that areas on the city outskirts get enough water during the summer.

He said the government was planning to resort to water tanks and borewells; new borewells will be dug and the old ones will be repaired.

The chief minister said funds would be released in this regard after consulting the finance committee. He added that the government was hoping that the work on Cauvery IV Stage project would be completed by the summer. He said this would alleviate the city’s water woes to a great extent.

When he was asked what was the government’s plan to tackle water shortage in other parts of the state, bang came his reply: “I cannot keep bothering about all the places.”

Further, Gowda chided the opposition parties for making a big issue of the porngate. He said the opposition did not have any issue of public interest and no topic to take on the government and that is why these parties were trying to capitalise on the porn scandal.

On the issue of appointing Lokayukta, he said the process to identify the candidate had begun, but the name could not be revealed at this stage. He said the name would be announced after Udupi-Chikkamagalur by-election.

BU’s affairs
During Janata Darshan, seven students of Bangalore University met the chief minister and complained that the vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev was not allowing them to appear in the exam because of low attendance.

Gowda gave them a patient hearing and asked them to meet him at Vidhana Soudha. He said he would speak to the V-C and resolve the issue.