NewsKarnataka-Karkala
Karkala : The River Swarna which is the life line of Karkala and is the major source of drinking water to the town is fast drying up. Sources say the water in the river may last for only upto two weeks.
Meanwhile, with the TMC administration not being serious about the alternate arrangements, the problem is likely to be grave in the next few days.
A dam constructed at Mundi in Durga village across the Swarna river having its origin in the Western Ghats stores water and supplies water to Karkala TMC limits. Every day 30 lakh litres of drinking water is pumped through a 125 HP pump and supplied to the town after it passes through a water treatment plant at Ramasamudra. From there it is supplied to the 10 lakh liter capacity tank at Ramasamdura, another tank of equal capacity near Taluk office and two other tanks of 50 thousand litre capacities in the town.Though the river is drying up, every day the 125 HP pump is operated for 19 hours.
Information from TMC sources reveal that the pump functioned for 20 hours and 40 minutes on April 21 and 15 hours and 45 minutes on April 22.
The Karkala TMC meanwhile gives the excuse that the drying up of Swarna river and the hide and seek of power supply was the main reason for its inability to supply regular water to the town. Another significant point to be noted here is that the workers in the water supply division have been apathetic and sometimes move out of their work place to do some personal works on the pretext that there was no power supply.
Moreover, even the illegal pipelines drawn in various places in the TMC limits cannot be ignored and there is also the allegation that this has the due backing of elected representatives and TMC staff. Already, people of Banglegudda, Sadbhavana Nagar, Gundya, Pattonjikatte, Kabettu, Kalikamba Nagar, Hiriangady and other places are hit hard due to irregular water supply since the past two months.
Udupi too will feel the pinch : Swarna river also flows towards Bajpe in Hiriadka. It is from the Baje reservoir that water is supplied to the Udupi CMC limits. In case Swarna River dries up, then along with Karkala even Udupi will be hit hard.
Ramasamudra-the ray of hope : Prior to the construction of reservoir at Mundli, Ramasamudra were the main source of drinking water for the Town. According to history, the lake was constructed by a Karkala ruler named Bairavarasa in memory of his son Ramanatha who died a young age. Later it came to be known as Ramasamudra. Ramasamudra has enough water that can be supplied to the town for three months. As there is a water treatment unit close by Ramasamudra it may not be difficult for the TMC to execute the plans of another reservoir here.
