Challakere: Has the severe drought in the district affected the construction work at the new military-industrial-nuclear complex coming up on the Amrit Mahal Kaval grasslands of Challakere taluk in Chitradurga district?
Although entry to the site is restricted for security reasons, making it out of bounds for the media, going by locals here work on building houses for engineers and scientists at the complex has come to a halt for the past few months due to shortage of water.
Once complete , the campus will be home to units of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
While water was supplied for their construction from existing and new borewells sunk for them within the project area, they are no longer viable, according to locals.
The IISc has already built two check dams , which will in due course receive water from the Vani Vilas dam near Hiriyur, to recharge groundwater on the campus. And official sources say DRDO too is prepared to invest Rs 17 crore in getting 0.3 TMC of drinking water from Vani Vilasa Sagar, but the project has not yet taken off.
With a good portion of the Ullarti tank now under Isro control , the boundary wall it has constructed is blocking the flow of catchment water into it, allege villagers. And borewells sunk by BARC and Isro in their allotted areas are causing water shortage not only in the villages , but within the science city too, they claim , lamenting that the grasslands too are suffering.
