Southern States - Karnataka   

Plan ready on surplus Bheema water

By T.V. Sivanandan

GULBARGA Sept. 2. The Government has finalised an action plan for utilising nine tmcft of surplus water available to the State in the Bheema in the Krishna Basin under Scheme "B'' of the Bachawat Tribunal Award.

A final decision on the allocation of water to the State will be taken by the new tribunal constituted by the Union Government for fixing the share of surplus water available in rivers in the Krishna Basin. However, as per indications in Scheme "B'', the State is likely to get nine tmcft of the surplus water available in the river, and it has prepared a project report to utilise it.

Sources told The Hindu here on Tuesday that the investigation wing of the Water Resources Ministry had completed investigation and prepared estimates for the projects on the Bheema to ensure that the water available did not go waste. The sources said the Bachawat Tribunal in its Scheme "B'' award indicated that the State had inherent powers to utilise five tmcft of surplus water available elsewhere in Gulbarga district, and four tmcft of water using the barrage being constructed at Sannati in Chitapur taluk in the district.

The sources pointed out that surplus water available in the Bheema would be mainly through regeneration of drainage and seepage waters from the Upper Krishna Project canals, including the Jewargi, Mudbal, Indi, and Shahapur branch canals. Regeneration of water from these canals to the Bheema would amount to about nine tmcft every year.

The Ministry had drawn up plans to utilise the excess four tmcft of water available under the surplus water scheme for the Sannati Barrage by implementing a lift irrigation scheme at Kallur, which would provide irrigation to 1.50 lakh acres. The lift irrigation scheme at Kallur would be a cost-effective one with a 40-metre lift and 2.5-km raising main (pipeline).

Sources said under the Scheme "A'' of the award, four tmcft of water had been allotted to the Sannati Barrage. Though the storage capacity of the proposed barrage was only 2.89 tmcft, the project was designed to utilise four tmcft of water. The barrages being constructed on the Bheema to utilise 15 tmcft of water under Scheme "A'' of the award had been so designed that they were inter-linked and the backwaters of these barrages would reach the starting point of the other barrage to ensure availability of water throughout the year in the riverbed for irrigation as well as providing drinking water to villages and towns on the riverbanks.

In the Scheme "A'' of the Bachawat award the State was allocated 15 tmcft of water in the Bheema, and while the Bheema Lift Irrigation Project had been designed to utilise six tmcft of water, the Kollur (B), Yadgir, Joladadgi, and Ghattarga barrages being constructed had the combined capacity to utilise five tmcft of water.

The Sannati Barrage had been allocated four tmcft of water.

The investigation wing of the Water Resources Ministry had prepared estimates for the construction of 10 barrages across the Kagina to utilise two tmcft of water allocated under Scheme "A'', the sources said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Sonia lauds Karnataka's dynamism in development
• Five more farmers end life
• Govt. notifies special VRS for employees
• Dharwad lawyers remain firm; schools, offices closed
• Krishna seeks aid for meal scheme
• Plan ready on surplus Bheema water

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu