DREAM COMES TRUE: Farmers watching water being released at Hanumapur village in Basavanabagewadi taluk on Thursday.

BIJAPUR: The ambitious Mulwad lift irrigation scheme was commissioned on Thursday, bringing cheers to farmers.

As the scheme is a key component of the Upper Krishna Project, its commissioning is being viewed as a step towards utilising the State's share of the Krishna waters under Scheme A of the Bachawat Tribunal Award. The scheme has been allocated 8.4 tmcft of water under Scheme A. This will be used to irrigate 30,850 hectares of land.

The first pumphouse at Baluti village on the contours of the Alamatti reservoir started working on Thursday and water was released into the 5-km leadoff canal. After half an hour, water reached the jackwell of the second pumphouse at Hanumampur, from where it was again pumped and released into the east and west canal systems.

Though work on the 17.4-km main canal was completed long ago, its distributaries, laterals and field channels are not fully ready. However, water is being released till the tail-end of the main canal. An area of 5,000 hectares of arid land is to be irrigated, benefiting 14 villages.

In the 76-km west canal system, water is being released up to the 20-km stretch, providing irrigation to 11 villages. Around four hectares of land is being irrigated by both the canal systems at present. As water requirement is very low, a pumpset each is run at Baluti and Hanumampur pumphouses.

Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd. (KBJNL), the nodal agency for commissioning the UKP, plans to run all motors on rotation basis till the canal system is fully ready.

Basavanabagewadi MLA Shivanand Patil, who inaugurated the scheme, announced at a function that the target to irrigate 30,850 hectares of land under Scheme A will be realised by June when the sowing season will commence.

So far, Rs. 223 crores of the total outlay of Rs. 301 crores has been spent, he said and added that the remaining sum will be utilised in six months. Noting that 1,80,850 acres of land is to irrigated under Scheme B of the award, he said people of the district should not rest till this is realised.

Meanwhile, former Basavanabagewadi MLA S.K. Bellubbi alleged in a statement here that the programme was conducted ignoring protocol.

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