The State government will decide on creating an exclusive organisation for water supply to Mysuru and surrounding areas or entrusting the responsibility to a centralised body in due course.
This was stated by the Mysuru district in-charge Minister S.T. Somashekar at a review meeting here on Friday. The issue assumed importance consequent to the announcement in the State Budget that water supply for villages coming under the jurisdiction of the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) will be entrusted to the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board.
In the discussion that followed, Chamaraja MLA L. Nagendra and MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajeev welcomed the decision to entrust the responsibility of water supply to villages in the MUDA limits to KUWSDB but wanted the existing set-up to continue as far as the city was concerned.
At present the water supply to Mysuru city is vested with the Vani Vilas Water Works, which is a wing under the Mysuru City Corporation.
Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri said though hundreds of crores of rupees have been pumped in to shore up the city’s water supply there has been no improvement in the sector all these years.
The present arrangement of VVWW supplying water to Mysuru has come under flak for lacking professionalism and resources to take up new projects that could meet the long-term demands of the city.
Meanwhile, activists in Mysuru have once again aired their apprehension over continuing with the existing system in Mysuru.
Bhamy V. Shenoy of the Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) and others have complained that the VVWW was being controlled by the councillors of the MCC and there was interference in its functioning which made it impossible to ensure equitable water supply to all the 65 wards of the city.
Mr. Shenoy said a technically competent KUWSDB will look after 52 villages coming under MUDA but there are concerns that a politically-oriented body with no technical competence will be responsible for ensuring water supply to Mysuru. He said the VVWW and the MCC failed to use the hardware and the software brought by a private organisation (JUSCO) to improve water supply to Mysuru.
Chandraprakash, a professor of Commerce and Management, University of Mysore, said when it comes to planning pertaining to water supply, it was done ad hoc based on immediate requirements and the cash-strapped VVWW could not be expected to take up mega projects to meet the long-term requirements of the city. He supported the establishment of a professional body or shifting the responsibility to KUWSDB.
