Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Illegal cultivation of paddy on the rise

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, DEC. 7. Despite the Government having banned the cultivation of water intensive crops in the command area of the Upper Krishna Project (UKP), the area under paddy is increasing at an alarming rate.

The area under paddy cultivation, which was initially confined to areas in the upper reaches of the Narayanpur Left Bank Canal in Surpur and the Shahapur Branch Canal in Shahapur taluk, has now spread to fields irrigated by the branch canals and is growing at an alarming rate in areas around the Jewargi Branch Canal and Indi Branch Canal.

Area increased

While paddy was cultivated in around 2 lakh acres last year, it has increased to 3.45 lakh acres of the 8.62 lakh acres of the command area of the UKP. This was admitted at the Irrigation Consultative Committee (ICC) meeting at Narayanpur in Surpur taluk on Monday. Senior officials, including the managing director of the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam (KBJN), A.P. Joshi, attended the meeting.

Clear directions

Although there are clear directions from the Water Resources Department that KBJN officials must destroy paddy nurseries at the beginning of the season to prevent farmers from transplanting the saplings to the fields, no serious attempt has been made to destroy the nurseries for fear of a law and order problem.

The violation of the cropping pattern in the upper reaches of the canals has resulted in a shortage of water in the tail-end regions of the branch canals. Farmers in the tail-end areas have been agitating for the past few months seeking their share of water under the project.

Dharna

Farmers from the tail-end regions launched a dharna demanding a ban on the cultivation of paddy and seeking the release of water to their fields outside the venue of the ICC meeting on Monday. Mr. Joshi, who took a serious view of the violations, warned officials that the KBJN would be held responsible if the farmers in the tail-end regions were denied their share of water.

He said that KBJN officials should take measures to prevent the violation of cropping pattern by seeking help from the police to destroy unauthorised paddy crops. He also asked the officials to take strict action against farmers who illegally drew water from the canals by using pumpsets and through illegal canals. The ICC meeting decided to stop the release of water in the canals from March 14 and strictly regulate the release of water to ensure water supply in the canals for the next 91 days.

The storage in the Narayanpur Dam is 29 tmcft and 65 tmcft in the Alamatti Balancing Reservoir. The meeting said that it would be impossible to release water beyond March 13 with the present storage. Veerabasantreddy Mudnal, Yadgir MLA, was the only legislator who participated in the meeting. Representatives of farmers and officials of the Water Resources Ministry participated in the meeting.

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Illegal cultivation of paddy on the rise

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