BIDAR: Agriculture Minister Bandeppa Kashempur, who is also Minister in charge of the district, inspected the work being carried out on the Karanja Dam in Bidar on Saturday and expressed dissatisfaction at its progress.

He said engineers of the Water Resources Department had promised to complete the dam and release water to the fields by March 30. However, some farmers had said the work was not progressing as it should and many of the canals were faulty and needed extensive repairs. He said the Government would appoint a team of experts to assess the situation, and they would submit a report in 15 days.

Mr. Kashempur said action would be taken against the engineers if they did not release water before March 31.

The Government would, however, take steps to inaugurate the dam according to the schedule, he said, and added that he would speak to Irrigation Minister K.S. Eshwarappa in this regard.

He said the reservoir had a capacity of 7.316 tmcft and had impounded 1.4 tmcft of water. Work on 31 kilometres of the left bank canal was completed. However, work on seven of the 131 kilometres of canals on the right bank were yet to be completed, he said.

Garden

Mr. Kashempur said a garden would be developed by the sides of the main gates of the dam, on the lines of the Krishna Raja Sagar gardens in Mysore. It was estimated to cost Rs. 44 lakh, of which Rs. 20 lakh had already been released. The work would be supervised by a committee headed by Deputy Commissioner Munish Moudgil, he said. Prakash Khandre, MLA, urged the Government to construct multiple barrages across the Karanja river, which would serve as mini-irrigation facilities for farmers downstream. He demanded that the Government oppose plans by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to build additional barrages across the river.

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