Udupi: Only 8 gram panchayats receiving tanker water

Kundapura: Many villages in Udupi district have still not started receiving tanker-supplied water even though many are facing acute shortages of water.

Till date, only 8 gram panchayats (GP) are receiving water through tankers out of the 58 GPs that have requested for it. 6 of the 8 GPs are in Udupi taluk and 2 are in Kundapura taluk.

23 GPs in Udupi taluk, 29 in Kundapura taluk and 6 in Karkala have requested for water.

Katt Beltur, Hakladi, Hosadu, Gangoli, Gujjadi, Trasi, Yadtare, Hemmadi, Tallur villages of Kundapura taluk and many other villages are reporting severe water scarcity.

Some GPs, finding no other recourse, have even used their funds to procure water.

Tanker contractors state that due to taluk administration taking over the process of contracting tankers rather than the GPs, as before, not many are willing to respond to the tender to supply water.

Earlier the tanker contractors were paid 25-30 paise per litre for the water but now its Rs 900 for 3000 litres and Rs 415 per 3 kilometres which they claim is insufficient.

Additionally, many contractors don’t agree to set up GPS to check the kilometres covered hence they don’t respond to the official tenders.