Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Harnessing the power of water

T.V. Sivanandan

FOR IRRIGATION: The water-lifting device designed by Sanganna Gurulingappa Habbu of Mudnur (K) village in Surpur taluk of Gulbarga district.

GULBARGA: A marginal farmer of Mudnur (K) village in Surpur taluk has designed a water-powered device to irrigate his eight acres of land from a perennial stream.

According to Krishik Samaj president Siddramappa Dhangapur, Sanganna Gurulingappa Habbu used to depend on water that leaked from the Upper Krishna Project canals and distributaries and rainfall for farming. His device can lift water up to a height of 20 ft and irrigate around 40 acres.

Mr. Habbu told The Hindu on the phone from his village that the device worked on a simple principle and did not require either electricity or diesel.

Mr. Habbu, who has studied up to the tenth standard, said his experience in a workshop owned by him in the village had helped him design this innovative pump.

His invention consists of a water-wheel inside a metal housing. The housing, which has an opening at the bottom, is lowered into the stream and the current spins the wheel. The water-wheel pushes water through a pipe to the fields.

Mr. Habbu, who has named his device the `Habbu Free Water Lifter,' said it cost him about Rs. 50,000 to make. It would be a boon to farmers, particularly those who lived on the banks of rivers and streams, who till now had to depend on erratic power supply or use diesel-powered pumps to irrigate their fields.

Mr. Habbu plans to apply for a patent for the machine.

The farmer, who depended on the rains and water leaking from canals to grow cotton with great difficulty, has now prepared his land to grow sugarcane using water from the perennial stream that flows nearby.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Harnessing the power of water
Protest against transfer of Corporation Commissioner
Raids conducted, seeds seized in Gulbarga

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu