Karnataka - Udupi   

Kharge opens diversion weir

Staff Correspondent

Rules out dialogue with Andhra Pradesh on `illegal projects' in Krishna basin

UDUPI: The Minister for Water Resources, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, has said that the Varahi irrigation project in Udupi district will be completed by December 2007.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday after inaugurating a diversion weir of the project at Hole Shankarnarayana, Mr. Kharge said the State Government approved the project in 1979 at an estimated cost of Rs. 9.43 crores. But the project progressed at a snail's pace owing to the fact that 10.9 acres of forest land faced the threat of submersion by the dam. This required clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which was obtained in 2003, he added.

He said Rs. 37 crores had been spent on the project in the past 25 years. An amount of Rs. 16.65 crores was spent on the project between November 2004 and March 2005. Works worth Rs. 48.67 crores have been taken up at the project site this year, which include the diversion weir built at a cost of Rs. 29 crores, the right and the left bank canals built at a cost of Rs. 9.11 crores, and Rs. 10.56 crores spent on the aqueduct.

Land under irrigation

The completion of the right bank canal and the left bank canal will bring 1,992 hectares and 10,987 hectares of land under irrigation, respectively, he said. The completion of a canal attached to the Varahi lift irrigation scheme will bring 2,733 hectares under irrigation. Of the 15,702 hectares of land that will come under irrigation, 8,324 hectares is in Kundapur taluk and 7,378 hectares in Udupi taluk.

A sum of Rs. 20 crores has been allotted for the project in the State Budget, Mr. Kharge said. There is a possibility of getting funds under the AIDP scheme of the Union Government for the project.

In order to help growers who have supplied sugarcane to the Brahmavar Sugar Factory, the work on the lift irrigation project is being speeded up, he added.

`No dialogue with A.P.'

Mr. Kharge ruled out having a dialogue with Andhra Pradesh on the projects initiated by the latter in the Krishna basin. Terming the projects illegal, he said the State Government has decided to lodge a complaint with the tribunal constituted to decide the share of riparian States of the surplus water in the Krishna Basin. The State Government will use all legal methods to stop the Andhra Pradesh Government from going ahead with the projects, he added.

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Kharge opens diversion weir

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