Karnataka - Bijapur   

Funds crunch hits canal work

Suresh Bhat

READY FOR USE: The pump house of the Alamatti Right Bank Canal.

BIJAPUR: If everything had gone as per the plan of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd. (KBJNL) the Alamatti Right Bank Canal (ARBC) would have irrigated 9,900 hectares of barren land in Bagalkot district in August last itself.

The work remains incomplete eight years after it began. So far, irrigation potential has been created in 2,400 hectares. Though late, the pump house was made ready three years ago. The main canal, another major component of the project, was readied almost two years ago. However, work on the distributaries, laterals and field channels has slowed down. Besides other factors, the reduced allocation of funds in the last two years has been cited as the reason for the slow progress.

Project cost

The Executive Engineer of ARBC division, Nimbal, told The Hindu that 11 of the 31 distributaries are ready in all respects. Of the rest, some are in an advanced stage of completion. As per the revised estimate, the project cost is Rs. 89.17 crores and a little over Rs. 70 crores has been spent so far.

It means only around Rs. 7 crores has been spent in the past 15 months. As per the official records, Rs. 63.7 crores was spent till the end of March 2003.After its completion the project will irrigate 30,000 hectares in Hungund and Bagalkot taluks. However, under Scheme A of the Bachawat Tribunal Award, the project has been allocated 4.41 tmcft of water, with the irrigated area being 16,100 hectares.

The remaining 13,900 hectares are to be irrigated under Scheme B by executing the Thimmapur Lift Irrigation Scheme.

Surplus water

The Irrigation Department plans to allocate 4.417 tmcft of water to the project under Scheme B, which is to be made from the surplus waters in the Krishna.

However, the quantity of surplus water the State is going to get is yet to be determined by the new tribunal.

As per the original plan under Scheme A, the main canal of the ARBC was to run beyond the Malaprabha.

However, after the Marol Lift Irrigation Scheme was conceptualised, the technical subcommittee of the Irrigation Department suggested that the main canal (ARBC) be restricted to 67 km till the Malaprabha river, which reduced the irrigation potential to 9,900 hectares.

The decision was taken as it overlapped the command area of the Marol scheme. Subsequently, it was calculated that only 2.71 tmcft water is enough to irrigate 9,900 hectares.

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