Minister directs officers to ensure supply of quality water

Minister for Urban Development B.S. Suresh has directed the officers of Raichur City Municipal Corporation to ensure that quality potable water be supplied to the citizens.

He was addressing a development progress meeting at the District Administrative Building in Raichur on Wednesday.

The State government owes it to supply pure and quality drinking water to the people, and it must be a top priority. At least a ₹40 lakh grant must be reserved for water supply, repair of pipelines and required maintenance, he directed.

The officers have explained to the Minister that drinking water is supplied after frequent necessary examinations at a laboratory at the University of Agricultural Science (UAS) when the Minister enquired about the supply of water and its quality.

Corporation Commissioner Jubin Mohapatra said that there is considerable progress in collecting taxes under the CMC limits that were due.

Mr. Suresh called the concerned officer over the phone and suggested taking immediate steps to appoint 75 pourakarmikas for Raichur CMC when Deputy Commissioner Nitish K. raised this issue and said that there was a proposal to appoint the required pourakarmikas since CMC’s upgrade.

The Minister specifically directed to clear encroachments on the corporation’s properties and ensure that there are no such encroachments in the future.

Highlighting the deficiency in the drinking water supply, MLA Shivaraj Patil appealed to the Urban Development Minister to prepare an action plan to supply an additional 20 MLD of water to the present supply of 52 MLD to meet the growing demand of the 3.20 lakh population.

He also urged the Minister to issue e-Khatas to slum dwellers, as Raichur city has 36 slums, which is the highest number after Mysuru. 

MLA Basanagouda Turvihal, Rajshekhar Ramswamy, Superintendent of Police Puttamadaiah, Santoshi Rani, Srikrishna, and other officers were present.