GULBARGA: There appears to be no end in sight for the command area farmers of the Amarja Medium Irrigation Project who have been waiting to see water in their parched agriculture fields for the past 32 years.

Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (KNNL), which took over the project a couple of years ago, says it will not be possible for it to release water during this kharif season.

Sources in the KNNL told The Hindu here on Sunday that if the canal reconstruction work in the right bank canal of the project were completed as per schedule, KNNL would be in a position to release water to 2,000 hectares of land in the right bank canal during this rabi season.

One of the main reasons for the authorities not to release water, despite water being available in the Amarja Dam, to the drought-prone areas of Aland taluk, which have been included as command area in the project, was the delay in the completion of the canal and distributaries reconstruction work.

The N. Dharam Singh-Government had decided to reconstruct the entire stretch of the canals both in the right and left banks and correct the canal bed level to ensure free flow of water and also to take up the construction of the field irrigation channels in the command area. It gave approval for repair works at a cost of Rs. 100 crore. Of the sanctioned amount, Rs. 70 crore was meant for the reconstruction and repair of the canals and distributaries.

Although work for the reconstruction and repair of the canals was inaugurated by Water Resources Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, and an announcement was made that the restoration work would be completed before this kharif season, the work is still in a nascent stage.

The sources said that KNNL had given the work to the Karnataka Land Army Corporation at a cost of Rs. 16 crore. However, the work, which should have been completed by April, has not been finished yet and the Land Army has sought time.

Instructions have been issued to the Land Army to complete the work at the earliest to enable KNNL to release water to at least in the completed portion of the first 20 km of the right bank canal. KNNL was now in the process of finalising the award of work from 20 km to 45 km to another contractor at a cost of Rs. 22 crore. Tenders have also been floated for taking up reconstruction and repair of the left bank canal up to 30 km at a cost of Rs. 26 crore. While the right bank canal has a potential to provide irrigation facility to 4,500 hectares of land, the left bank canal has a potential to provide water to another 4,500 hectares of land.

The sources said that the repair work of the distributaries and construction of the field irrigation channels is also being taken up simultaneously.

The project has been allocated 1.91 tmcft of water by the Bachawat Tribunal under Scheme A and when the project was taken up in 1974-75, its cost was put at Rs. 5.70 crores. However, scanty allocation and the lack of political will to complete the project have resulted in the escalation of the cost to Rs. 203.30 crores. More than Rs. 120 crore has been spent so far but not one acre of land has been provided water.

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