HASSAN: Minister for Women and Child Development H.K. Kumaraswamy said that water would be released from January 15 at intervals from from January 15 in Alur taluk so farmers could get water for 122 days. He presided over the Vatehole Reservoir Yojana consultative committee meeting on Wednesday in Alur.

Mr. Kumaraswamy told presspersons that at present, the reservoir stored 0.864 tmc ft of water, and 0.800 tmc ft of water would be released into both the right and left banks of the reservoir's canal. An "an-and-off" method would be adopted in the release of water to ensure that the water supply was spread over more days, he said.

Under this method, water would be released for 12-day periods, which would be separated by seven-day intervals. Over 5,000 acres of land would be irrigated, he said, and appealed to farmers to use water judiciously, for dry-cum-wet crops only. He also urged them not to fill their tanks from the water supply.

He said that repairs, if any, on the canal would be taken up after the water release period ended.

Work on bridge

Mr. Kumaraswamy said that work on the Honnemane Bridge which began in 1996 and was stopped halfway would start again in a week's time, and would be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 1 crore. Once the bridge was completed, it would connect 15 villages, he said. Similarly, Rs. 32 lakh had been released for the ongoing work on the Doddihalli Bridge connecting Alur and Belur taluks, he added. At the consultative committee meeting, H.M. Viswanath, Sakleshpur MLA, suggested a widening of the Chikka Kanagalu Bridge.

S.M. Anand, MLC, said that the canals of the Vatehole reservoir were filled with silt, which was preventing a smooth flow of the water. He called for measures to remove the silt.

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