GADAG: Residents of Ron town are angry and on a protest from Saturday -- they don’t want Jigaluru lake to be inaugurated, as 30% of work is still pending. With CM Basavaraj Bommai due to inaugurate the lake on Monday, residents plan to request him not to do so yet. This may not suit the CM, who wants to throw open as many projects as he can before the election notification is out.
The residents’ grouse is that work on Jigaluru lake, on the Ron-Gajendragad road, has been going on for 10 years but 30 per cent of the work is yet to be completed. The lake is spread across 340 acres, and the plan is to maintain the underground water level during drought, to provide drinking water. The lake is still full of weeds, and though work is incomplete, the CM has been invited to inaugurate it. Some residents started a symbolic protest two days ago, and now many residents are joining the protest.
For at least two decades now, there has been a demand from locals to take up work on the lake, and it finally started 10 years ago. Now residents are facing irregular water supply, and if lake work had been completed, more than seven villages would have got uninterrupted water supply in Ron and Gajendragad taluk.
Shivappa Navalgund, a resident of Ron, said, “Work is still going on, and Bommai is coming to inaugurate the lake. DC should come and check the work and give a green signal. We have decided to protest during the inauguration and bring it to the notice of the CM, that he is inaugurating a lake where 30% of the work is pending.” An official from Gadag district said, “We received a complaint on Jigaluru lake and have brought it to the notice of the DC.”