Govt approves Rs 270-crore scheme to supply water from Varahi to Udupi

Udupi: In the backdrop of Udupi being plagued by an acute shortage of drinking water, there is a ray of hope with the government approving the Rs 270-crore scheme to bring Varahi river water to Udupi city under the centre’s Amrut project was on Friday May 31.

The legislative council application committee convened a meeting to discuss the Rs 270-crore water supply scheme under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) of the union government that could provide drinking water to the entire city. The meeting was presided over by the former legislative council deputy speaker and application committee president Basavaraja Horatti.

Earlier in the project, it was proposed that non-purified water from Varahi be directed through pipes to the purification unit in Baje and sent to Manipal. But considering the objection submitted by the members of Raitha Sangha, the committee blocked the tender and conducted investigations. MLA K Raghupati Bhat spoke to Raitha Sangha leaders through Pratapchandra Shetty and others and held discussions about amending the project.

Post intense discussion of Friday, it was decided to construct a purification unit of 50 MLD at Barathkal, Varahi and supply water through pipeline directly from there to GRL, Manipal. Decision was also taken to distribute the purified water to all the panchayats that are situated along the way. The roads will be asphalted if they are dug for the laying of the pipes. Decision was taken to call for tenders and begin the work.

MLA Raghupati Bhat took active part in the meeting, explaining the problems of drinking water in Udupi and asked officials to start work immediately while Basarvaraj Horatti asked officials to submit a report with regard to inviting tenders and commencement of work to the application committee.

The meeting was participated by the application committee members, urban development department chief secretary Anjum Parvez, irrigation department chief secretary Rakesh Singh, KUIDFC’s M D Ibrahim, other urban development department officials and KUIDFC officials.

The previous Udupi MLA and former minister Pramod Madhwaraj took to Twitter to announce the clearance of the project. He said that he would put all efforts for successful implementation of the project and gave the credit to former urban development minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, Congress MLA Roshan Baig and to former Mangaluru South MLA J R Lobo.