Drinking water soon to 21,500 villages: Govt

Mysore, Jun 13: The Karnataka government will ensure supply of drinking water to all the 21,500 deprived villages in the state during the next three years, Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Shobha Karandleje said today.

Speaking to mediapersons here after a review meeting of the district administration, she said the state government accords top priority to providing water facilities to all the villages.

The sanitation programme in the state would also be implemented on a war footing since a number of villages, particularly in Northern Karnataka were lacking the facility.

Stating that the Budget for her department was only Rs 3,500 crore, she said the state would seek more funds from the Centre for sanitation and drinking water projects. ''The Government would also seriously consider private participation in social oriented programmes,'' she added.

The state government has plans to formulate an Advisory Committee at the state level to seek the opinion on various programmes and policies in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Ministry by involving experts and NGO, she said.

Ms Shobha said she would visit villages to distribute the benefits to the needy people instead of 'village stay' concept.

The department officials would visit the villages and collect the applications from the people much before her visit to the village.

Referring to distribution of BPL cards, she said the government has decided to take up re-survey on this system and during the next Cabinet meeting, the final decisions would be taken up. The entire problems of BPL cards would be settled in the next three months, she added.

UNI