Raichur: Water supply in the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal (TLBC) was suspended on Wednesday. The canal will be closed till the end of June.

Sources said water supply in the canal was suspended following a fall in the water level at the discharge head of the canal. There was a discharge of about 1,900 cusecs on Wednesday morning when the canal was closed. The discharge would be reduced to zero gradually in the next three or four days.

The sources said paddy had been grown in about 3.50 lakh acres of land in the command areas of Gangavathi taluk in Koppal district and Sindhanur, Manvi and Raichur taluks in Raichur district. The crop was grown in an equal area in the kharif season. Though cultivation of paddy had been banned during summer, most of the ayacutdars had switched over to the crop which had affected normal water supply in most of the tail-end regions. About 40 per cent of the crop grown, especially in Manvi taluk, had been affected due to water shortage.

Demand

There had been a demand from the tail-end ayacutdars, especially in Sindhanur and Manvi taluks, that water supply in the canal should be continued till April 15.

The ayacutdars, including members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and activists of Congress in Raichur district, had resorted to a rasta roko in Sindhanur and Manvi towns on March 24 demanding that the Government extend water supply in the canal till April 15.

The Government had decided to release about five tmcft of water from the Bhadra Reservoir to extend water supply in the canal till April 12 when a delegation from the Raichur District Raitha Hitarakshana Samithi met Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Minister for Water Resources K. Eshwarappa.

However, normal discharge (of 3,500 cusecs) remained affected since April 1 owing to the sudden closure of a hydel project in the upper reaches of the canal in Gangavathi taluk. The discharge in the canal was reduced to zero in the following three days affecting water supply in the entire canal. Though water supply was resumed after April 4, water did not reach beyond the 47th mile as the ayacutdars in the upper reaches in Gangavathi taluk allegedly lifted the gates of most distributaries to draw water to their fields. The ayacutdars in Sindhanur taluk were forced to utilise only from the sparse discharge available in the canal beyond the 47th mile. This resulted in the suspension of water supply in the command areas of Manvi taluk.

Assessing the situation, the former Minister, Muniyappa Muddappa, managed to get water released for the tail-end command areas in Raichur taluk through the available storage at the balancing reservoir near the 98th mile stretch of the canal.

Unauthorised cultivation

Talking to The Hindu on Wednesday, V.P. Uddihal, Chief Engineer of the Irrigation Central Zone of Munirabad, said except Raichur taluk, most of the ayacutdars in the upper reaches of the command areas had unauthorisedly cultivated paddy though the crop was banned during summer.

The department had issued a notification in December appealing to the ayacutdars not to grow paddy in summer and take up only light crops. But a majority of them had gone for paddy cultivation in violation of the notification. Even after this, the department decided to save some water in the reservoir by suspending water supply in the canal for 15 days after kharif harvesting in the command areas,

However, it was not possible as elected representatives from Gangavathi, Sindhanur, Manvi and Raichur taluks brought pressure on the department to continue water supply in the canal. As a result, storage in the reservoir depleted affecting water supply in the canal during summer, he said.

He said standing paddy crop in the command areas of Gangavathi, Sindhanur and Raichur taluks would not be affected as the ayacutdars in these taluks had managed to impound additional water into pit-ponds. But about 40 per cent of the crops in Manvi taluk would be affected. However, his department could not be held responsible for any loss of paddy crop which had been grown in violation of the cropping pattern, he said.

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