Balavana- Dr. Karanth’s legacy water-starved

Puttur (Dakshina Kannada district) : This town has treasured the legacy of the Jnanapith award winner Dr. Kota Shivarama Karanth in Balavana. It is a national tribute to the fabled litterateur known as the Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore of Karnataka. But alas! it is facing severe water shortage and with the summer season just beginning and the summer vacation is about to start for the school the Balavana is expecting a big rise in the tourist influx.

According to the local conservationists, the Balavana has a water connection provided by the Puttur municipality is not giving adequate water on a day-to-day basis. About six months back the district administration had approved a bore well for the facility which has been executed. But matter is stuck there as the pump has been removed and the funniest part is that to install the pump it requires the assent of the Deputy Commissioner of the district. So the matter now hangs in Balance.

The local elder and and ardent follower of Dr. Shivaram Karanth, Dr. SN Amrut Malla has already written to the Deputy Commissioner to resolve the problem by ordering the installation of the pump. Other civic activists ask if the mundane things like installation of a pump to the well needs the assent of the head of the administration?