Encroachments of gram panchayat lakes to invite criminal cases, says Karnataka Minister Khandre
Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre on Friday warned that encroachments on lakes owned and maintained by gram panchayats would be removed without any leniency and criminal cases would be filed against encroachers.
He said immediate measures will be taken to clear encroachments covering 11,671 acres involving 4,828 lakes.
“Karnataka is the second state in the country with the largest extent of drought-prone land, and ensuring drinking water supply to rural areas remains a major challenge. Groundwater levels are declining continuously, and failure to protect surface water sources could lead to severe water scarcity in the future,” Khandre, who holds the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj portfolio, said.
Speaking to reporters, he said he participated in a two-day departmental summit on sustainable water organised by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti in Delhi, where he presented the measures being taken by the Karnataka government for water conservation in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“In most parts of Karnataka, hard rock formations and laterite beneath the ground prevent rainwater from percolating, contributing to the depletion of groundwater. Excessive extraction of groundwater has also lowered the water table,” the minister said.
Surface water sources will become increasingly important for sustaining life in the coming years and lakes, tanks, reservoirs and rivers must be protected, he said, warning that failure to do so would result in water scarcity.
Noting that only about three per cent of the water on earth is freshwater suitable for drinking, making protection of water resources a collective responsibility, Khandre said he had urged the Centre, in the presence of the prime minister at the concluding session of the summit, to formulate a national programme to protect lakes, reservoirs and rivers from pollution caused by waste discharge as well as encroachment.
There are 32,504 lakes under gram panchayat jurisdiction in Karnataka, of which 11,498 had been encroached upon, he said.
“Encroachments have already been cleared from 6,670 lakes, while encroachments covering 11,671 acres involving 4,828 lakes are yet to be removed. I have directed officials to take immediate action to clear these encroachments. Anyone found newly encroaching on a lake will face a criminal case,” he said.
Khandre said 26,589 villages in the state are home to around 4.45 crore people, accounting for more than half of Karnataka’s population.
Providing safe drinking water to such a large rural population is a major challenge, he said, adding that the government is implementing single-village and multi-village drinking water schemes keeping in mind the projected population increase over the next 30 years.
As many as 1.51 lakh women have been trained to test the quality of surface water and provided with field testing kits, he said.
Karnataka is the first state in the country to undertake water budgeting, Khandre claimed.
Water budgeting helps assess the availability of water in a specific geographical area as well as its current and future demand, thereby enabling scientific and systematic planning for balanced water supply, he said.
A continuous drinking water supply project has been implemented in 268 villages, resulting in savings of seven per cent in drinking water consumption and 12 per cent in electricity used for pumping water, Khandre said.
He also said the government has constituted committees at the state and district levels under the District Water and Sanitation Mission to take steps toward ensuring sustainable drinking water supply across Karnataka.
