Karnataka - Bijapur   

Allocation of water for Mulwad irrigation scheme increased

Suresh Bhat

The scheme will utilise 54 tmcft of water to irrigate 2.11 lakh hectares of land

FOUNDATION OF HOPES: Foundation pillars are ready for an additional pump house of Mulwad Lift Irrigation Scheme at Hanumapur jackwell in Basavanabagewadi taluk.

BIJAPUR: Hopes have been rekindled about optimum utilisation of Mulwad Lift Irrigation Scheme with the State Government almost restoring original quantity of water allocated to the scheme for its final phase.

According to data available on surplus water in the Krishna, Karnataka is expecting an allocation of 278 tmcft (surplus) water by the new tribunal headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar.

Subsequently, the Government has revised the master plan distributing the expected quantum of surplus water among different schemes in the Krishna Basin.

It submitted the proposal to the new tribunal that has been constituted to settle contentious issues related to the Krishna, including the appropriation of surplus water among the riparian States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

New proposal

The Government said in its proposal that the Mulwad scheme, a major component of the Upper Krishna Project (UKP), will be allocated 54.4 tmcft in surplus water as against the original allocation of 56.5 tmcft.

Once completed, the Mulwad scheme will irrigate 2.11 lakh hectares of land in Bijapur district. The scheme is being implemented in two phases.

Bachawat Tribunal

The Bachawat Tribunal allowed the State to utilise 734 tmcft water in the Krishna Basin under what it called Scheme "A". In turn, the State planned to utilise 173 tmcft under the UKP.

Of this, the Mulwad scheme got only 8.45 tmcft to irrigate 30,850 hectares of land and the project has been partially commissioned. An area of 1.8 lakh hectares is to be irrigated with the allocation (now it is 54.4 tmcft) of surplus water that is known as Scheme "B" of the UKP.

Controversial decision

In the previous revision of master plan, the Government had reduced the allocation of the Mulwad scheme to 36.6 tmcft from the original proposal of 56.5 tmcft.

This gave rise to a major controversy after the then Managing Director of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd. B. Parthasarathy registered his objection to this in his letter of January 24, 2002, to the then Water Resources Minister H.K. Patil.

In the letter, he said the Mulwad scheme and some other UKP schemes like Chimmalgi Lift Irrigation Scheme should be implemented as per the original plan as they have been designed to cater to the needs of those who lost their land and property to Alamatti and Narayanpur reservoirs. The latest development is likely to assuage the farmers who had protested over the issue in the last two years. Farmers have been agitating under the banner of Bijapur Zilla Samagra Neeravari Horata Samiti at Alamatti for the past 25 days. Restoration of original water allocation to the Mulwad scheme is one of their major demands.

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Allocation of water for Mulwad irrigation scheme increased

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