The river is now one big sewerage line; its catchment area once fed 1,775 lakes

The Arkavathy River was once the lifeline of the region. But all that is left of it today are just fond memories. The river basin that used to boast of 1,775 lakes along its pathway, now has only a few hundreds surviving.
Even during the rainy season, some of the lakes are not filled with water from the basin. The industries along the river stretch and sand mining activity have practically destroyed the river bed, residents claim.

Hard hit by consecutive droughts, in the last two years, taluks in Malnad region, have not been able to meet the drinking water shortage.

Such has been the distress situation that MLAs of the Malnad and eternally drought-hit Chikballapur district, dread facing the people in the constituency during the coming elections for fear of incuring their wrath. Janata Dal (Secular) MLA Sunil V Hegde of Haliyal constituency, Uttara Kannada district, N Sampangi of Bagepalli constitutency, Chikballapur district, and Congress MLA Kimmane Rathnakar of Thirthahalli raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday participating in the discussion on drought and drinking water shortage.

Farmers in Kannamangala village of Chikkaballapur district, 63 km from Bangalore, used to mainly grow ragi, tamarind and other traditional crops in the laterite soil that yielded very little.

But of late, the income of farmers from this arid area has soared. For, the farmers are experimenting with various new crops and techniques of farming under a new project by the National Bank for Rural and Agricultural Development (NABARD).

TN govt uses 120-year-old pact to stall tank renewal project

The Karnataka government believes the Tamil Nadu government might have thrown a spoke in its plans for a tank irrigation project, using a 120-year-old agreement between the erstwhile governments of Mysore and Madras. A committee, which clears Central government-funded projects, rejected the State government’s proposal to use sewage water generated in Bangalore to fill up dried tanks in Chikkaballapur and Hoskote under a Central irrigation programme. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) said no to using sewage water from the City to fill up the dried tanks under the Centre’s Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme because of a hitherto unknown agreement signed on February 18, 1892, between Mysore and Madras.

The State government has conceived a plan to help children of parents with HIV/AIDS. The new programme aims to give the children access to financial assistance for education and other expenses till the age of 18, regardless of their economic background.

One condition to obtain the benefits, however, is that parents should disclose their HIV/AIDS status. Drawn up by the Department of Women and Child Development, with technical support from the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), the programme has been in effect from the 2011-12 financial year and already covers 15 districts.

It emphasises growing less water-intensive crops, fodder during low rainfall and soil testing

The University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) has come up with a contingency crop plan for southern Karnataka to tackle drought. UAS Vice-Chancellor Dr K Narayana Gowda said the contingency crop plan submitted to the State government lays stress on growing alternative crops and cultivating choices that are in tune with rainfall and soil fertility in the region. “The focus of the plan is on south interior Karnataka as the region accounts for a major share of State’s agriculture production. Moreover,

Poverty, delays in release of funds hamper ‘Total Sanitation Campaign’

Efforts to make the ‘Total Sanitation Campaign’ a success in the district appear to have lost momentum. Even after the State government has planned to increase the allocation of funds from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 per toilet, the rate of work has not increased. Officers blame residents for the delays. Members of the public, however, who have to put up the money for the construction before they can reimbursed by the government, complained of not having enough funds.

River water to meet drinking water needs of Chikkaballapur, Tumkur

The State government on Friday finally gave administrative approval for the Yettinahole project that proposes to draw water from the Yettinahole River in Sakaleshpur to meet the drinking water demands of Chikkaballapur and Tumkur districts and some parts of Bangalore Urban. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishveshvara Hegde Kageri said the project proposes to harness 24 tmc ft from Yettinahole in Hassan district for the drought-prone regions of the three districts at a cost of Rs 8,323 crore.

If all goes as per DULT (Directorate of Urban Land Transport) plan, Bangaloreans will soon have rail facility to different destinations in districts like Mandya, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Tumkur and Bangalore Rural.

A draft report on implementation of commuter rail system (CRS) in Bangalore, submitted by RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Services) limited to DULT recently, proposes to run trains to these destinations with a speed of 70 km to 100 km per hour, apart from providing connectivity to commuters within the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike limits.

Lack of vigil by authorities has helped it prosper

In spite of ban, there is a rampant illegal sand mining in the taluk on the Chitravathi river bed. The taluk has no major water sources, hence, groundwater is precious here. With the increased dependency on groundwater, the water level has depleted and water is not available even at depths of 1,000 ft. As a result, water sources have dried up in the taluk.Besides, rampant sand mining has also affected the groundwater level.