With the delayed onset of the southwest monsoon raising concerns over drinking water availability in Kalaburagi, Allamprabhu Patil, Kalaburagi South MLA, on Saturday visited the Saradagi bridge-cum-barrage, the city’s primary source of drinking water, to review the prevailing water situation and assess the measures being taken to ensure an uninterrupted water supply.

The MLA was accompanied by Mayor Varsha Rajeev Jane, Deputy Mayor Tripti Lakhe, Kalaburagi City Corporation Commissioner Avinash Shinde and other officials, who inspected the available water storage and reviewed the ongoing improvement works at the barrage.

Speaking to reporters after the inspection, Mr. Patil said the State government had already released 0.5 TMC ft. of water from the Narayanpur reservoir to tide over the drinking water crisis caused by the deficient rainfall. The released water is expected to reach the Saradagi barrage by Sunday or Monday, ensuring continuity in water supply to the city.

He said Kalaburagi had been facing drinking water shortages almost every summer as a substantial quantity of water released from Narayanpur through Shahapur and Naganur was lost before reaching the city. To address the problem permanently, the government had prepared a detailed project report worth ₹1,850 crore for a direct pipeline from Narayanpur to Saradagi. Once implemented, the project would provide a long-term solution to the city’s drinking water needs, he added.

Mr. Patil said modernisation works were also under way at the Saradagi barrage to improve water storage. “The barrage has more than 900 stop-log gates that are over 41 years old. Of these, 600 have already been replaced with new gates, while another 150 have been repaired. Desilting works are also being taken up to enhance the storage capacity and to improve the quality of drinking water, with nearly ₹5 crore being spent on the improvement works,” he said.

Mr. Patil also said that the 24x7 drinking water supply project being implemented by Larsen & Toubro had already laid around 700 km of pipelines under Scheme-A, while another 500 km of the pipeline network was being taken up under Scheme-B to extend the distribution system across the city.

The MLA said officials had been instructed to deploy around 200 water tankers immediately wherever drinking water shortages were reported in either the Kalaburagi South or North Assembly constituencies. “The government has taken all precautionary measures to ensure that citizens do not face hardship due to drinking water shortage,” he said.

City Corporation Commissioner Avinash Shinde said the city currently had sufficient water for the next eight to ten days, and the fresh release from Narayanpur would further ease the situation. He expressed hope that the monsoon would pick up in the coming days, in line with the weather forecast.

Mr. Shinde said officials had been directed to ensure that sewage did not contaminate drinking water pipelines. He also said departments executing road, BSNL, and electricity works had been instructed to complete underground utility works before road-laying to prevent the repeated excavation of roads.

He added that the corporation also planned to drill 60 to 70 borewells under the National Municipal Performance Challenge, with the Fifteenth Finance Commission grants in areas facing water scarcity.

KUIDFC Superintending Engineer R.P. Jadhav, Assistant Executive Engineer of the Minor Irrigation Department Rajashekhar Sajjanshetty and other officials were present during the inspection.