The Hindu : Karnataka News : Work on Amarja project yet to be completed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Work on Amarja project yet to be completed

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, MAY 4. The incomplete medium irrigation project at Amarja in Aland taluk of Gulbarga district is yet another example of waste of public money.

Though the government claims to have spent Rs. 100.57 crore on the project, only a few hundred acres of land have been included in the command area so far. The project was taken up as a drought relief work in 1973. Later, the Planning Commission gave its approval to the project at a cost of Rs. 5.70 crore with an intention of bringing 8,903 hectares of land under the irrigation network.

However, successive governments neglected the project with little allocation to it. This led to cost escalation and the latest revised estimate of the project is Rs. 118.80 crore.

While a dam under the project is ready, water impounded in it could not be released into the canals because of their faulty design and lack of distributaries and field irrigation channels.

According to official figures, 94 per cent of work on the main canals in the right and left banks and 55 per cent of work on the distributary system has been completed.

One of the major drawbacks in the major and medium irrigation projects in the Krishna Basin in the district was the non-inclusion of the cost of field irrigation channels.

It was because of this, the authorities concerned were not in a position to release water into canals and distributaries despite storing water in projects such as Amarja, Gandorinala, Lower Mullamari, and Bennethora.

It was only after H.K. Patil took over as Water Resources Minister in the S.M. Krishna Government, steps were initiated to prepare estimates for field irrigation channels under these projects. While some of the proposals have been approved, many are awaiting approval.

A major drawback in the Amarja project was the faulty construction of right and left bank canals.

An investigation ordered by Mr. Patil during one of his visits to the Amarja project site revealed that the canals required major rectification to allow free flow of water till the tail end region.

The Working President of the Janata Dal (Secular), B.R. Patil, has demanded that a high level inquiry be ordered into the "misdeeds" of the officials concerned while executing the project work and the alleged misappropriation of funds.

Stating that the Government recently decided to release Rs. 50 lakh to take up work on the project, he sought details regarding the proposed work.

Meanwhile, officials of the Water Resources Department here have recommended to the Government to include the Amarja Project for assistance under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) to complete the work on it by March 2005.

According to sources, the authorities proposed to take up repair work on the main canals and distributaries up to 100 km, construct field irrigation channels up to 200 km and replace structures, including cross drains.

They claimed that the project could irrigate 1,164 hectares of land now.

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