Belagavi: After having learnt a lesson from the severe water shortage in Belagavi this summer, the state government has decided to spend crores of rupees on getting hundreds of dried up lakes desilted.
In the last one week, 60 lakes have been adopted by sugar factories and private organisations for desilting.
The government is also gearing up to desilt hundreds of other lakes on which the rural population depends for water.
In the first phase, lakes which help in improving the water table will be desilted as a large population depends on groundwater for drinking in rural segments, said Deputy Commissioner N. Jairam.
According to him, the government has released Rs 4.75 crore for desiltation of lakes allotting Rs 50 lakh for each of the ten taluks in Belagavi.
A deadline of June 15 has been set for completion of desilting. Already, desilting of several lakes is on in drought-hit areas including Rakkaskop reservoir, a main source of water for Belagavi city.
An organisation of contractors from Belagavi is spending a huge sum on getting Rakkaskop reservoir desilted. The work is expected to be completed within the next 15 days. Desilting of several smaller lakes including Markendeya dam has been taken up by villagers in several areas under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
An action plan for desilting of lakes by the government is expected to be ready by Saturday.
The district in all, has 972 lakes and most of them have a huge amount of silt. The government hopes to revive important lakes that will help overcome drought in the coming days.
According to the Deputy Commissioner, desilting of lakes in drought-hit areas will be video-recorded to ensure quality. The works which go beyond the deadline of June 15 will not be paid by the government, he warned.
