BENGALURU, 4 MAR

Private tankers in City will be charged based on the distance they travelled from the source of water to the destination they supplied, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Monday.

Shivakumar held a meeting with Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner Tushar Girinath, Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board Chairman Ram Prasath Manohar V and other zonal commissioners on Monday to discuss the water crisis in Bengaluru.

Shivakumar also said the government will be taking over the borewells in areas with good water tables to provide water to the dried-up borewells. The owners of the borewells will be paid the compensation, he said. “Water does not belong to anyone. Under the law, there is a provision for the government to take over water,” Shivakumar said.

Milk tankers will be taken over

To increase the frequency of water supply, the government will use unused milk tankers to supply water. “As there is less milk production, there have been a lot of unused milk tankers and we have informed Karnataka Milk Federation that we will be taking over their tankers,” Shivakumar said.

The private tankers were given time till 7 March to register. However, only 219 out of 3,500 tankers in the State have been registered, the minister said. If the private tankers do not register before the deadline, RTO will seize their vehicles and licences will be cancelled, Shivakumar warned.

To solve the drinking water problem, Rs 148 crore from BBMP and Rs 128 crore from BWSSB have been allocated. The war rooms and call centres will be set up by BBMP at ward levels to solve the problems quickly. The RO plants that have been stopped due to the shortage of water will be started immediately once the source of water is found. -Salar News