Reiterating his government’s commitment to expanding irrigation in the State, Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol has said that the State Government has decided to demand national project tag for Upper Krishna.
“The Union Government has already declared Upper Bhadra as a national project. We want the national project tag for Upper Krishna as well. The tag will facilitate flow of funds from the Union Government to the project. It will help the expansion of irrigation in the command area,” Mr. Karjol said.
He was addressing a media conference in Kalaburagi on Sunday.
“We have taken steps to increase the height of the Alamatti Reservoir built on the Krishna to 524 meters for utilising the State’s share of water as awarded by Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II. If the dam height is increased, 20 villages will be submerged and we will have to acquire 1.32 lakh acres of land. We have allocated ₹3,000 crore for the irrigation projects in the Krishna basin this year and we will continue to allocate the same amount for the purpose in future also,” Mr. Karjol said.
The Minister said that his government has given adequate attention to irrigation projects in the State by allocating ₹3,000 crore each for the Upper Bhadra and the Yettinahole projects and ₹1,000 crore each for the Mahadayi and the Navali projects.
Mr. Karjol also said that contractors who do not complete irrigation projects within the stipulated time will be blacklisted. “We have already issued notices to certain contractors. We have also fined them up to 7% of the project cost. The next step will be blacklisting,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Karjol held a meeting of officers in the Water Resources Department to review the progress of projects taken up by the State-owned Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited.
Taking note of the increasing demand for land for the construction of educational institutions and hospitals, Mr. Karjol directed the officers to give excess land available with the department for such purposes.
“In many cases, Water Resources Department will have some excess land after implementing irrigation projects. These land remain unused. On the other hand, the State Government doesn’t have enough land to build schools, colleges and hospitals. In such cases, the excess land acquired for irrigation purposes can be given to the authorities concerned to build educational and healthcare institutions,” Mr. Karjol said.
The Minister directed the officers to complete the Bandarwada and Mannur lift irrigation projects, meant for lifting the Bhima waters to fill seven tanks in Afzalpur taluk, before September.
“The State Government has already issued orders for implementing the Yaddalli Lift Irrigation Project at a cost of ₹60 crore to irrigate 1,280 hectares of land and the Teranalli Lift Irrigation Project at a cost of ₹84 crore to irrigate 1,870 hectares of land in the district. Call for tenders and start works immediately,” Mr. Karjol said.
Lok Sabha member Umesh Jadhav, KKRDB chairman Dattatreya Patil Revoor, legislators Basavaraj Mattimadu, Avinash Jadhav, B.G. Patil, Shashil Namoshi, Sunil Vallyapure and others were present.
