E-Paper
Karnataka govt to propitiate rain gods
Faced with acute water scarcity and the prospect of the monsoon being delayed, Karnataka government has decided to propitiate the gods to bring in rain.
Faced with acute water scarcity and the prospect of the monsoon being delayed, Karnataka government has decided to propitiate the gods to bring in rain.
Places of worship will reverberate with prayers on June 4 and 5 to seek the mercy of the almighty to solve the crisis as drinking water sources were fast dwindling with the rains having failed for the last three years.
Karnataka Minister for Rural Water Supply K B Koliwad told a press conference here today that he has asked all elected representatives to organise prayers at all places of worship and mobilise people for praying to the rain gods.
This is not the first time government has been undertaking such a step. Congress government led by late R Gundu Rao made such an attempt in the 1970s directing "the Muzrai department" to ensure that bells chimed in temples and prayers rent the air in places of worship, propitiating the rain gods.
In 1988 after the state was devastated by three successive drought years, the then Janata Party government performed a pooja at the Thippagondanahally reservoir which supplies drinking water to one-third of the city to bring rain. But to government's bad luck the much publicised pooja performed by late Shivabalayogi failed to bring in rains.
However, in the next two years the Thippagondanahally reservoir was filled to the brim following copius rain in the Arkavathi river catchment area. (more)
