BENGALURU: With consecutive years of drought and the meteorological department predicting a below-normal monsoon this year, the state government seems to have outsourced the water crisis management to the gods!
The Muzrai department has now planned to conduct ‘Parjanya homa’ in all the 34,559 temples coming under it.
The ‘homa’ was conducted in 2017 too, but only at Talacauvery, the birthplace of the river Cauvery.
Muzrai minister P T Parameshwar Naik justified the move saying the state is reeling under drought for many years.
“There is no rain and reports say the monsoon will be deficient this year too. The groundwater table too is depleting. In such a situation, any water or lake project that we take up will not help much. It will take a minimum of four years to yield results. We don’t have any option right now other than seeking divine intervention,’’ Parameshwar Naik said, sounding exasperated.
Muzrai minister P T Parameshwar Naik has already directed the Muzrai department commissioner to check on the preparations that need to be made for conducting the homa. “The commissioner will give us a report on the cost estimate. We will take it to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy CM G Parameshwara, and after their approval, we will direct the archakas in the Muzrai temples to conduct the ritual,’’ he said.
Asked about its duration, he said the ‘homa’ will be held till it rains. He also claimed that when S M Krishna was CM during 1999-2004, the government had conducted the ‘Parjanya homa’ and that it had borne fruit.
In all, 175 temples coming under the department are classified as Class A (annual revenue over Rs 25 lakh), 163 as Class B (between Rs 5 and Rs 25 lakh) and 34,221 are Class C temples (less than Rs 5 lakh).
Most of the temples have kalyanis (stepped wells), but they are in bad shape with either no water or filled with silt. “We will take up rejuvenation work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme,’’ the minister added.
Along with conducting the ritual, the government is also planning to undertake cloud-seeding. Of the 176 taluks in the state, 156 taluks are facing drought.
The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department are already supplying drinking water to 2,999 villages through 2,322 tankers every day.