Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs Rizwan Arshad speaking during the Independence Day celebrations in Udupi on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: UMESH S. SHETTIGAR
Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Rizwan Arshad launched the Udupi Civic Watch app on Saturday to enable people to report garbage spots in public places. Once reported, local bodies will clear them.
Udupi Civic Watch, a project of the Udupi district administration, was rolled out in Saligrama Town Panchayat on Saturday. The project will be extended to other parts of the district in phases.
In his Independence Day address in Udupi, Mr. Arshad, who is the Udupi district in-charge Minister, said the civic watch project aims to keep public places clean.
He said the district administration, in association with the We Care Society, had already launched a project to make value-added products from temple flower waste. Environment-friendly incense sticks and bamboo-free incense sticks are being made under the initiative, with local donors donating the machinery required for production.
Udupi drinking water project
The project to draw drinking water from the Varahi river to the ground level storage reservoir at Manipal to supply Udupi city round-the-clock will be completed soon. The project is being implemented at a cost of ₹238.63 crore, the Minister said.
Mr. Arshad said that out of the 525 projects taken up under the Jal Jeevan Mission to supply piped drinking water to households, 487 had been completed. The mission aims to supply water to 2.47 lakh households in 3,402 villages across 155 gram panchayats.
He said 19,236 farmer proposals were registered under the weather-based crop insurance scheme in the district for 2026–27, an increase of 7,691 registrations compared with last year.
The Minister added that 100 bike ambulances will be deployed in the district to respond to medical emergencies and accidents.
He said 2,38,080 women had registered under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in the district, and the government had credited ₹1,366 crore to 2,13,712 beneficiaries.
The Minister also released the Udupi district tourism mascot on the occasion.
Published – August 15, 2026 07:05 pm IST
