The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government preparing to take up tank rejuvenation scheme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government preparing to take up tank rejuvenation scheme

T.S. Ranganna

80 tanks will be covered in the first phase next summer

Basavaraj Bommai

BANGALORE: The Government is preparing to launch a scheme to rejuvenate and restore tanks and lakes in all the river basins in the State next summer.

Speaking to The Hindu, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that he had asked the officials concerned to prepare detailed project reports for each of the tanks coming under the Krishna and the Cauvery basins.

They have been told to furnish details, including the loss of capacity of tanks in the recent years resulting in the wastage of water and the expenditure involved in rejuvenating and restoring them.

Of the nearly 200 tanks, 80 tanks, which used to get water from dams during the rainy season in the Krishna and Cauvery basins, would be taken up in the first phase.

Ruling out the creation of any additional capacity of any tank in the two river basins, the Minister said that augmenting drinking water supply and re-charging the ground water-table in the immediate neighbourhood of the tanks was of paramount importance.

He said that the department would request Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who also holds the Finance portfolio, to release more funds through the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam and Krishna Jala Bhagya Nigam.

Mr. Bommai said that he wanted to speed up the remodelling of the left bank and right bank canals of the Malaprabha and Ghataprabha projects.

Once this work was completed, he said water could be saved and distributed to tail-end farmers.

The Minister said that he had decided to solve the problem of the people, especially farmers, in townships along the Krishna and the Bhima rivers in Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Gulbarga districts that faced the threat of floods when water was discharged from the Koyna Dam in Maharashtra. This has been an annual affair for many years.

Mr. Bommai said that he was meeting his Maharashtra counterpart to discuss issues related to water release from the dam.

About the rehabilitation of people from low-lying villages facing the flood-threat, Mr. Bommai said that the progress of a Central project was tardy. Such villages would be shifted to safe places, he added.

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

Karnataka