Karnataka - Shimoga   

Decision to release water into canals ratified

By Our Special Correspondent

SHIMOGA, JULY 31. The Irrigation Consultative Committee (ICC) of the Bhadra Project, which met in Bangalore on July 28, ratified the decision taken by the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) to release water continuously for 110 days from July 6 in the Left Bank Canal and from July 10 in the Right Bank Canal from the Bhadra Reservoir for the kharif crops.

The Chairman of CADA, R. Prasannakumar, told presspersons here on Saturday that the ICC decided to meet again in October to review its position on the release of water. He said it had been decided to release water for the kharif crops after taking into account the rainfall in the catchment area of the reservoir, which, he said, was higher than the expected rainfall.

Mr. Prasannakumar said the ICC had directed the authorities of the Irrigation Department to take up immediate repair works on the distributory channels following complaints by farmers that the water released into the canal hardly irrigated 30 per cent of the area in the tail-end reaches of the canal.

Delegation

He said a delegation of the ICC had met the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister, Siddaramaiah, and requested him to release Rs. 3 crores to repair the channels and clear the wage arrears of "Soudis" and "Neeru Ghantis" working in the irrigation divisions of Bhadravati, Davangere, and Malebennur.

The delegation would meet the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, shortly and request him to release Rs. 3 crores immediately, he said. Mr. Prasannakumar revealed that the Government had agreed to release Rs. 60 lakhs to commence the repair works and pay the arrears of the Neeru Ghantis and Soudis.

He said the ICC had appealed to the Government to fill the vacant posts of engineers in the three irrigation divisions.

`Satisfactory'

Describing the storage position in the Bhadra Reservoir as satisfactory, Mr. Prasannakumar said there would not be any difficulty in releasing water for the summer crops.

Asked about the proposed modernisation of the Tunga and the Bhadra canal systems at an estimated cost of Rs. 468 crores, Mr. Prasannakumar said it was being delayed because of lack of political will.

He said Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. proposed to raise funds for the modernisation work by floating bonds and seeking a loan from the Asia Development Bank.

On the removal of unauthorised pumpsets from the canals, he said that though a majority of them had been removed by Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd., there was no guarantee that they would not be reinstalled.

ICS formation

Mr. Prasannakumar said the formation of irrigation cooperative societies (ICS) in the Bhadra command area had evoked an encouraging response from farmers. Of the 298 registered societies, 105 had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Irrigation Department on the maintenance of sub-canals and distributory channels, he added. He said the farmers could form a federation of the societies if 180 of the registered societies signed an MoU with the Irrigation Department to have a greater say in matters pertaining to irrigation in the command area.

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