Water Crisis: Construction workers life is untold misery

The city is reeling under unprecedented water crisis throwing open new problems with each passing day. The new on the list is the construction industry. Thousands of construction workers families who are depend on construction activities for livelihood are severely affected as the works have come to a stand still in several places because of water shortage.

The labourers are finding it difficult to seek other job or go elsewhere, as they don't have knowledge in any other field. Badly affected are daily wage labourers who want to earn and eat there.

Many of them who come from nearby villages such as Ramnahalli, Kyathmaranahalli, Nanjangud, Chamarajanagar are employed by contractors for brick laying, plastering, centering and other activities. They are paid Rs 200 to Rs 400 depending on the work structure.

Couple Kempaiah and Savithramma, native of Kyathmarhalli, who were on work after gap of three days said: “we have forgotten comfortable living. Increase in prices of essential commodities, poverty, unemployment has pushed our life into misery. Our problems has become untold misery.”

Painter VS Panduranga says: “Construction works have been temporarily halted in several places due to lack of water. Until the construction works completes we are jobless. We are eagerly waiting for the monsoon.”

Building Contractor Roshan Biag said: “In one side due to new sand policy we are facing shortage of sand and fighting for quality sand. In addition water problem is looming city delaying works.”

Manoj who has laid foundation for house in Sharadadevi Nagar said: “I have halted construction work for time being. Only after water problem

solves, I start constructing house. We cant offer for tankers.”

Mysore City Corporation Commissioner PG Ramesh said that instructions have been given for construction industries, and citizens to stop construction work until water problem resumes.

Public toilets shut down due to water crisis

Water situation has worsened for high extent in Mysore. With the city presently reeling under severe water crisis, has not spared even the public toilets.

Most of the public toilets have closed down due to lack of water. Though the city Corporation has made arrangements to supply water through tankers to these toilets, it is not sufficient to last the whole day. As a result they close immediately when water runs out.

Compare to men, women are facing lot of problems. Close of public toilets has caused lot of inconvenience for hundreds of women who come to city to sell fruits, vegetables, betel leafs, flowers and much more. Apart from the general public others who frequent these toilets are workers employed in nearby shops, road side vendors, travelers, tourists and students who are put to great inconvenience.

Several women complained that due to insufficient water, toilets are not cleaned properly and are forced to attend the nature call amidst fear of infection. This has even affected the passers-by and vendors accompanied to toilets.

Raj Singh, employee of sub-urban bus stand pay and use toilet said due to shortage of water they have shut doors of toilets for two-three days in the last few days.

Employee Birajnandan Tagore of pay and use toilet situated adjacent to D Devaraj Urs road said they are trying to manage with a tanker of water provided. When questioned about foul smell being emitted by toilets he said they are using water in limited to adjust it for a whole day.

Keralite Gajan who is staying in Mysore from last two days said, “the employees deputed in toilets ask us to use limited water stating there is no water. The toilets are emitting bad smell and are maintained badly. Its high time arrangements should be made to provide sufficient quantity of water and maintain cleanliness”.

Vegetable Seller Thayavva says: “there are several public toilets located at various places in the city providing great relief to people who suddenly gets the urge to answer nature's call. But, people rushing to the nearby toilets over the past few days to answer the call were shocked to see them closed because of no water.”

  

This stretch turns death trap

The pathetic condition of Shivaji Raod in NR Mohalla has become nightmare for residents. Huge potholes on the middle of the road pose threat for commuters. The stretch is not tared from long time and footpaths are encroached by roadside vendors, and shop owners.

Filled with potholes the stretch is not motor friendly. Commuters call the stretch as 'death trap' and allege that no measures have been taken to asphalt the road and are fed up with several rounds of complaint.

Surrounded with Schools, religious places, hospitals, several choultries the road is always buzzed with people activity and known as commercial street. The stretch connects Mysore Bangalore Road (junction of central jail), Bannimantap, Ashoka Road, Sub-urban Bus stand, Bangalore Ring Road and several other areas.

Auto Driver Ali Mohammed says the stretch is not safe for either commuters nor pedestrians. “Huge potholes pose threat. Unaware of potholes, there are several instance where vehicle drivers have lost control over vehicle, by applying sudden break.”

“One cannot drive on stretch without applying brakes. The driving pleasure gets exhausted in avoiding these potholes. Being double road the roads can be widened and need to be tared to ensure smooth flow of vehicles. In this single stretch about seven choultires and function hall are set up and traffic congestion is common,” says Reshma Unnisa, resident.

MCC officials said soon they will address the issue and the works were delayed following ULB and Assembly elections.

  

BJP's vote share sees a drastic dip in Mysore

The assembly elections results has shook the base of BJP in Mysore and Chamarajanagar district. Not a single BJP candidate from 14 constituencies of Mysore and Chamarajanagar district have succeeded in elections.

The candidates who contested from 10 constituencies of Mysore district have obtained only 1.44 lakhs votes (10.07 per cent), against 14,30,181 votes. Whereas in Chamarajanagar the candidates have obtained 27,455 votes against 5,89,801 votes.

While, the KJP performance in both the district is good comparatively to BJP. In Mysore district KJP has obtained 1,61,113 votes (11.26 per cent), which is 1.19 per cent more than BJP. In Chamarajanagar, it has obtained 1,53,850 votes, dealing a severe blow to BJP.

It can be remembered here old Mysore region provided base for BJP three decades ago. In 1983 elections H Gangadhar had won from Krishnaraja constituency. In 1985, 1989 BJP lost the elections. In 1994 BJP won the elections in Krishnaraja, Narasimharaja and Chamaraja constituencies.

But after a gap of 10 years, that is in1999 elections BJP set a record in district by winning in five constituencies out of 11. In 2004 Shankarlingegowda and in 2008 SA Ramdas and Shankarlingegowda won the elections. While, 2013 election is a nightmare for BJP.

If compare to previous two elections, this time BJP was completely rooted out in district. In the previous 2008 elections, BJP had succeeded from Krishnaraja and Chamaraja constituencies. The total per cent of votes obtained from district is 3.87 lakhs (27.85 per cent) against 13,91,309 votes. The party managed to hold second and third position. Whereas, this time the party holds fourth and fifth position in several constituencies.

2013 elections

This time about 2.5 lakhs voters have cast their right against BJP in Mysore district. Apart from three constituencies of Mysore city and HD Kote in the remaining constituencies the BJP has lost deposit. In Varuna, the BJP has slipped to 10 th place.

------------------- 

BJP position in Mysore and Chamarajnagar District

Constituency	Candidate	Votes obtained	Place
Krishnaraja	SA Ramdas	46546	2
HD Kote	Siddaraju	31248	3
Chamaraja	L Nagendra	26168	3
Narasimharaja	BP Manjunath	12443	4
Chamundeshwari	A Hemanthkumar Gowda	8308	4
Nanjangud	Dr Shivaram	7074	4
T Narasipur	C Ramesh	5175	4
Krishnarajanagar	MP Kumar	1860	4
Hunsur	KS Annaiahnayak	4229	5
Varuna	SD Mahendra	1070	10

Chamarajanagar	S Somanayaka	6919	5
Hannur	BK Shivakumar	1323	8
Kollegal	GN Nanjundaswamy	17224	4
Gundlupet	HG Mallikarjunaswamy	1989	7

 

Congress party sweeps in Chamarajanagar district

Congress candidates has swept Chamarajanagar district by winning all the four constituencies in a huge margin, sidelining other major political parties. The total number of votes obtained by Congress in district is 2,31,249. KJP has obtained 1,53,850 votes, while BSP 55,520, JD(S) 55,240 and BJP 27,455 votes.

Congress has won Hannur and Chamarajanagar constituencies in a margin of 11549 and 11196 respectively. Whereas in Kollegal the margin is 10193, followed by 7675 votes in Gundlupet.

Bahujan Samaj Party and Karnataka Janata Paksha have given good fight for Congress, compare to JD(S) and BJP. At Chamarajanagar and Gundulpet the close fight for Congress is from KJP, whereas in Kollegal by BSP and in Hanur by JD(S) party. BJP party performance has completely tumbled in the district.

Chamarajanagar

Congress candidate C Puttarangashetty has won the Chamarajanagar constituency in a huge margin of 11196 votes, against KJP candidate KR Mallikarjunappa who has obtained 43,244 votes.

Puttarangashetty has obtained 54,440 votes, while Vatal Nagaraj of Kannada Chalavali Vatapaksha has got 18,408 votes BJP candidate RP Nanjundaswamy 9278, JD(S) candidate SP Sannamada Setty 2696 votes.

Hannur

Congress candidate R Nagendra from Hannur has won the battle against JD(S) candidate Parimala Nagappa in a margin of 11549. Nagendra has secured 55684 votes, whereas Parimala 44135. While, BJP candidate BK Shivakumar has succeeded in taking only 1323 votes.

Kollegal

S Jayanna, congress candidate has won the battle from Kollegal against Bahujan Samaj Party candidate N Mahesh by securing 47,402 votes.

Mahesh who has secured 37209 votes, has lost the elections in a margin of 10193. BJP candidate GN Nanjundaswamy has bagged only 17224 votes, while JD(S) candidate N Chamaraju 4392 votes.

Gundlupet

Congress candidate HS Mahadeva Prasad has won Gundlupet constituency in a difference of 7675 votes. Prasad has secured 73723 votes against KJP candidate CS Niranjanakumar who has obtained 66048. While BSP Nagendra has secured 6052, followed by JD(S) BP Muddumallu 4017, and BJP candidate HG Mallikarjunaswamy 1989 votes. 

Guppy fish to fight against dengue

In a bid to eradicate malaria and dengue menace from society, a social worker has taken a drive of distributing 'Guppy fish' to the villages in Mysore district.

Social Worker Somashekar Gowda who is breeding Guppy fish is distributing about 10 lakh fishes in district at free of cost. On Tuesday, he distributed about 10,000 fishes at D Salundi where dengue virus has spread across village, taking four lives. He has placed Guppy fishes in more than 50 puddles in and around of villages, where mosquitoes breed.

He says, Guppy fishes is the right solution to control dengue virus, as its prevent mosquitoes of breeding by eating larvae. “When guppy fishes eat larvae it controls the regeneration of mosquitoes. By placing a pair of guppy fishes is puddles, ponds, huge difference can be witnessed. As dengue has proved fatal, its high time citizens should breed guppy fishes in their surroundings and prevent spread of viral diseases,” he said.

He says, if Mysore City Corporation takes initiative to place a small cement pond in every 100 meters and breed Guppy fishes, in a span of four months Mysore can be declared as free of mosquitoes, eradicating dengue and malaria.

Kalpavruksha Trust President Dr HB Rajashekar said dengue fever is caused due to Aedes Egypti Mosquito and female anopheles mosquitoes are responsible for the spread of malaria. “The female mosquitoes breed on stagnant water. When guppy fishes are left in pond, the fishes eat the larvae produced by mosquitoes, destroying the breeding from the root level. It helps to curb dengue, malaria menace,” he observed.

Asking people to borrow fishes from Somashekar at free of cost and ensure mosquitoes not breed in their surroundings, he seeked help of people to make Mysore a role model district in state. For details contact 93427 10209 or 99725 28181.

    

Farmers harvest short term crops on vast dry land of KRS

 Due to insufficient rains and drought the receding backwaters at Krishnaraja Sagar Reservoir has exposed vast areas of dry lands, which at normal times would remain submerged under flowing Cauvery river.

This has turned into a boon for farmers residing on the banks of Krishnaraja Reservoir. Taking the advantage of the exposed dry lands the farmers have started harvesting short term crops stretching over quite a few acres, right behind the dam. Acres of land has turned into a green carpet making one wonder whether a river ever flowed there.

Farmers of Kannambadi, Anandvoor and surrounding villages are growing crops like Sesame (Yellu), field bean (Thadnikalu), watermelon, Jowar and other crops which can be harvested within a span of two to three months. Some farmers had already begun harvesting dried field bean to prepare seeds for the next sowing session.

The river bed silt is naturally rich in soil nutrients, doesn't need any fertilizers or chemicals, says farmers. Being already a wet land there is less dependency on water. In case, water is needed the farmers collect water from the river in pot and sprinkle over crops. The farmers claimed that lands once belonged to their ancestors which was submerged after the construction of the Dam.

Farmer couple Vijaya and Lokesh said "We physically removed stones and pebbles lying on the dry riverbed and later sowed seeds. Already we have harvested good quantity of jower, field bean. We are making seeds of few grams, which will be helpful for the next sowing in our agriculture land.”

Farmer Sreenivasan said: “We do not find any difficulty to cultivate the river bed and harvest crops. It was nearly a decade ago, when the water level had dropped similarly we had harvested crops in the same manner.”

Civic issues haunt residents

Though the heavy rains lashed in city from last two days has brought down the temperature consistently, the aftermaths affect of rain has severely affected the normal life. Citizens are facing severe hardship with power cut, water disruption and many other civic problems.

Following thunder, lightening several trees have been uprooted in city crushing the cable connections. Electric poles have fallen and transformers are under repair in several areas, which has resulted to power cuts for more than 20 hours in several areas.

Oozing of potholes, unclean garbage has also created fear among residents of spread of epidemic diseases. In down shallow areas of Kanankagiri the rain water has entered houses. While, in heart of the city, Bannimantap, Vidyaranyapuram, Kesare, Chamundipuram, RMC Yard, the roads itself had disappeared ! Motorist were seen moving very carefully in fear of potholes and trench. In many streets the tar and jelly stones have been washed out creating potholes.

Jayu, resident of Saraswathipuram said from Friday 7 pm to Saturday 4 pm there was no power supply in the area and due to inadequate supply of water and power they are facing lot of problems.

“Every time when it rains, the residents are more vulnerable for power cuts, compare to other areas. The concerned staff fail to resume the power after rainfall stops. Two years ago, they resumed the power after four days, which are terrible days in my life,” added Jayu.

NIE Engineering Student Madhu said: “For an average lightening we face power cut problems and power are not resumed even after days together. I feel we have to step ahead with advancement of technology.”

Supriya resident of Yadavagiri said: The Under Ground Drainage network in area is very badly maintained. It gets clogged oftenly and when rains the situation worsens more.   

Youngsters help voters to exercise their franchise

Thanks for the initiative of Election Commission which helped hundreds of people to find their polling station easily on Sunday. Unaware of where to exercise their franchise some people were seen wandering searching their polling booth. While, some of the voters were seen returning back following missing of name in voter ID list.

In such, the youngsters sitting at voter assistance booth were seen facilitating such voters to find their name and polling station easily, by just sending a SMS to 9243355223.

The youngsters were seen providing the compete details for voters in a few second, such as Assembly Constitution, serial number, name, address and room number where they should exercise their franchise by sending the message.

“I was totally confused, tensed after hearing of missing of name from my voters list. At any cost I do wanted to miss my voting right and I approached the youngsters to assist me. They helped me to get my serial number and polling room number by sending a SMS. Which helped me to cast my vote,” said Sindhu resident of Saraswathipuram.

“The election staff in a polling booth said my name is missing in the list and asked me to visit nearby booth. But, the boys sending the message confirmed me that my voting rights is in the same booth. By collecting the serial number I crossed check with the officials again, where I found my name,” said Shilpa, resident of Nenjumalige.

Chethan of NIE College said he has sent about 26 message till 11 am. “Am feeling very happy for being part of electoral process. Many of the people are confused with their poling booth and we are helping out them by sending a free SMS.”

Another Voter Assistant Nandini said the initiative has helped lot of people to find their polling booth in a few seconds and there is very good response from public to know their polling booth. 

Know the details of candidates at tip of your mouse

Gone are the days when the voters were in the dark as to who they were electing or what their background was. But thanks to the efforts of 'Association for Democratic Reforms' along with the National Election Watch, has set up a website http://myneta.info/ providing all information of the candidates contesting the elections.

Specially for first time voters the website is boon, as they can knew better about the candidates for whom they exercise their franchise. The site provides complete background details of the candidates based on criminal, financial, educational, income tax, total assets and other details.

Interestingly the site also lists candidates who doesn't have a PAN number or filed Income Tax Returns. By further clicking on a particular candidate they can get complete data about the nominees. The primary source for the data used here are based on reports provided by the candidates themselves in their sworn affidavits filed at the time of submitting their nominations.

“It is a worthy exercise and all the voters should visit this site once to know the candidates they are voting for,” says Shyana, BBM student of Saraswathipuram College.

The voters can also watch 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha Elections winners, their expenses, who were MPs in the last election, and all State Assembly Elections posts by visiting the website. During non-election period the citizen can access the details of sitting MP and MLA of their area.

SMS campaign

Apart this the voters can get details of Neta's by calling toll free number 1800-110-440 or sending SMS to 9246556070,” specifying constituency name or the pin code of the area.

--------------- box ----------

HIGHLIGHTS OF CANDIDATES UPDATED IN WEBSITE

Total number of constituencies=224

Total candidates analyzed by NEW = 1052

Candidates with declared criminal cases = 220 (21%)

Candidates with declared serious criminal cases = 110 (10%)

Crorepati candidates = 681 (65%)

Candidates who are graduate or above = 589 (56%)

Candidates who have not declared PAN = 142 (13%)

Total women candidates = 58 (6%)

Total candidates who have filed ITR = 747 (71%)

 

Awful journey of Hemophilia victims

With the non availability of free Anti Hemophilic Factor (AHF) in government hospitals people with hemophilia (PwH) are suffering hard to get treatment. There are instances of People have sold their property to bear the expenditure of treatment. Sharing their agony, Hemophilia patients requested government to make treatment available at affordable cost, if cant supply it freely. 

Mahesh resident of Maddur with tears in eyes said: “my two sons were infected with hemophilia since birth. My wife Bhagyamma committed suicide along with my second son, depressed over the issue.” Now, Mahesh is leading life with his elder son 12-year-old Appusri Gowda, who is PwH.

18-year-old Nataraj, an 2nd year B.Com student is undergoing treatment from four months of baby. His father Paremsh, an Agriculturist said “to provide treatment I sold portion of the land. With the non availability of drugs in government hospitals, where are facing lot of problems.”

Patient Kempegowda of Somanahalli, Hunsur Taluk said his son and grand son are suffering from hemophilia. “The treatment is very expensive and cant be beard by a common man. We have walked from pillars to post seeking help, but no one looked towards us. Government should look into this issue seriously.”

Karnataka was the first state to provide medicine for Hemophilia patients with a BPL card. But unfortunately as it was not included in the State budget the supply of these medicines has been stopped since three years.

According to Doctors An average of Rs 1.5 is needed for a patient. In houses about 2-4 persons have Hemophilia and the economic condition of the families makes people their life misery. For 250 ML of vial it costs Rs 3475 and for 300 ML about 5,500.

Hemophilia Federation of India Vice President Vikash Goyal said 16,000 people in country, 1500 in state and about 89 in Mysore are identified with Hemophilia.

Hemophilia cases are increasing in country and identification of undiagnosed people is a big challenge. 80 per cent1.2 lakh people of people in country are suffering with Hemophilia and about 70 per cent of Hemophilia patients become disabled, he added.

He said, HFI has submitted a memorandum to government seeking allocation of Rs 20 crore in the budget for treatment and provide a special hemophilia ward in government hospitals. But still their demands have remained unaddressed.

Virkam Hospital Dr Anjali Arun said that the Hemophilia disorder can lead to death and patients suffer from severe joint and muscle bleeding. Girls, women have bleeding in gems.

About Hemophilia

Hemophilia is a genetic, life-long threatening bleeding disorder, incurable in nature and a very expensive to manage in terms of medication and care. The major challenge is treating poor people with Hemophilia as most of the patients are economically poor.