Karnataka - Bijapur   

Rs. 1,400 crore more to be spent on Upper Krishna Project components

GANGA PUJA: Water Resources Minister K.S. Eshwarappa and other dignitaries offering ‘bagina’ to the Krishna at Alamatti reservoir on Friday.

BIJAPUR: Minister for Water Resources K.S. Eshwarappa on Friday said the Government had to spend Rs. 1,400 crore more to accomplish all the planned irrigation components of Upper Krishna Project (UKP) utilising the quantum of 173 tmcft of water allocated under Scheme A of the Bachawat Tribunal Award.

Talking to presspersons at Alamatti, he said the planned area of irrigation in UKP under Scheme A was 6.22 lakh hectares, and irrigation potential created so far was 5.92 lakh hectares. The cumulative expenditure stood at Rs. 9,700 crore, he added.

On the project to fill minor irrigation tanks by pumping water from the Krishna and its tributary in Bijapur and Bagalkot districts, the Minister said the first phase work would begin on September 20 at an estimated cost of Rs. 81.6 crore. He said that survey would be formally launched with regard to second phase work on the occasion. According to initial estimate, the second phase work needed Rs. 208 crore.

He said when he assumed office early last year, 39 pending projects were listed to be expedited. Work on 35 of them had been completed, and the rest would be tackled in the next four months. Besides, modernisation work on the Bhadra project was taken up at a cost of Rs. 910 crore. The dam built in the 1960s was in a bad shape, and a quantum of 6.5 tmcft of water was going waste every year due to leakage that had now been plugged.

Repairs of main canals and distributaries were under way. The contractors had to finish the work before December 31, failing which they would be blacklisted. Also, the nodal officers of the different components of modernisation project would be suspended if they failed to ensure completion of work.

On substandard work, he said the system of third party evaluation had been introduced. A clause of five-year maintenance by the contracting agencies had also been brought in, he added.

Later, Mr. Eshwarappa performed Ganga puja by offering bagina to the Krishna at the Alamatti Reservoir. His Ministerial colleagues Govind Karjol and Appasaheb Pattanashetti; MP Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal; Krishna CADA president Mallikarjun Yandigeri; Managing Director of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd. H.S. Mahesh; Bijapur Deputy Commissioner V.B. Patil; Chief Engineer of Alamatti Dam Zone H. Shivashankar; MLAs Shivputrappa Desai, Veeranna Charanthimath and Doddanagouda Patil were present.

Earlier, members of the Krishna Kanive Raitha Hitharakshana Samiti, headed by its president Basavaraj Kumbar, submitted a charter of demands to Mr. Eshwarappa, and forced him to address them at the entrance of the dam structure.

The Minister announced that the Government would offer Ganga puja to the Krishna at the Alamatti Dam site every year on the lines of one that was held at K.R. Sagar across the Cauvery.

Also, he said that a police station would set up at Alamatti to strengthen security at the dam site.

Mr. Eshwarappa and other dignitaries later launched construction work on the Thimmapur Lift Irrigation Scheme at Thimmapur in Bagalkot district.

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