Mangaluru: Hostels sending back students; hotels too hit by water crisis

Mangaluru, May 3: Hostels, hotels and restaurants have started feeling the pinch of water crisis in Mangaluru as the City Corporation has resorted to supply water once in three days.

Many hostels and hotels in the city are mainly depend on the Netravati waters supplied from the Thumbe vented dam, where the storage levels have fallen to 5.8 ft against a maximum 13 ft. Though they have borewells and open wells, the water table in them has gone very low.

Already, two prominent medical colleges in this educational hub have partially shut down their hostels and sent hundreds of students their homes till the situation improves.

It is learnt that Kasturba Medical College (KMC) has sent back about 400 MBBS students of second and third year batches from their hostels till May 15 and Father Muller Medical College has sent back about 75 per cent of the students.

The KMC has about 2,000 students, including some day scholars in eight hostels, while Father Muller Medical College has about 2,500 students from medical, para medical and nursing streams in eight hostels.

On the other hand many hotels in the city do not even have water to wash the vessels. Some hotels serving snacks and sweets on paper plate

Swarna Sunder, vice-president, Dakshina Kannada Hotels and Restaurants' Association said that some hotels had introduced eco-friendly bio-plates made from areca-nut sheaths or areca-nut leaf plates. But this did not go down well with many customers who are yet to get accustomed to it.

Mr. Sunder said river Netravathi drying up has hit hotels and lodges in Mangaluru, with the owners of middle-class hotels and restaurants worst hit. Many of them can't even depend on private tankers anymore as many of them are either getting too many requests or have been hired by MCC to supply water.

Meanwhile, the flow of customers to hotels has also increased with the tourist season beginning. Moreover, people who are unable to cook at home due to water shortage also come to hotels, Mr. Sunder said.