The Hindu : An experiment and an experience in water management

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 03, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

An experiment and an experience in water management

By Suresh Bhat

BIJAPUR MARCH 2. While water still seems to be a mirage for the farmers and the livestock in many villages along the course of the dried up Bheema. A sharp contrast is seen in the adjoining areas where a vast stretch of cultivable land and habitations have been flooded due to the overflowing of the Indi Branch Canal (IBC).

Although, the release of water up to the 133-km stretch of IBC has quenched the thirst of people in a number of villages in the IBC Command Area, people living along the river belt have been deprived of water, thanks to the improper water management on the part of the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) especially in the post-release period.

The people in Indi taluk, especially those living in the river-belt villages, agitated when the Bheema went dry last winter. When Maharashtra government refused to release water from the Ujani Dam, the Karnataka Government was forced to find an alternative solution. It finally decided to release Krishna waters into the Bheema through IBC, which was ready only up to the 87-km. stretch. After working round the clock, the KBJNL managed to get the 172-km. main canal ready up to the 133-km. stretch.

Subsequently, the Minister for Water Resources, H.K.Patil, who ordered release of water downstream of the 87-km. stretch of IBC on February 6, said though the distributaries and field irrigation channels were not ready, water was being released up to the 133-km. stretch mainly to provide drinking water to people. Many villages in the IBC command area and those in the river belt in Bijapur and Gulbarga districts would be benefited.

However, so far, most villages have not received any water supply, thanks to the lack of monitoring on part of the authorities concerned and the difference among the people's representatives. Water released from IBC reached the Bheema through the Baragudi Nullah on February 9. However, the release was curtailed three days later, as a result of which only three river-belt villages -- Baragudi, Hingani and Padnur-- got supply of water. The people in the other villages were left in the lurch.

Meanwhile, banana, sugarcane, wheat, and vegetables are withering as the groundwater sources are fast depleting.

Temporary sand-bag barrages have been erected not only at Chikkamanur village but also at Chanegauam, Anachi, Buyyara, Khedagi, and Rodagi, on which Rs. 22 lakh has been spent to store water whenever it was released. The temporary barrages at Chanegaum and Anachi can be filled up only when Maharashtra releases water from the Ujani Dam, since they are located upperstream of the Baragudi Nullah. The other four temporary barrages can be filled up only when enough water is released from IBC through the Baragudi Nullah.

It is said that KBJNL, after being pressured, started releasing water into the partly-completed distributaries, as a result of which water overflowed and entered residential areas. Houses and huts are marooned in Satalgaum, Salotagi and so on. Large tracts of land coming under these distributaries have become waterlogged or erode.

According to sources in the Kembavi Division of KBJNL, the quantity of water released has now been reduced substantially. Calculation on how much water should have been released into different distributaries appears to have gone awry since it is for the first time that this has been done. It appears to be both an experiment and an experience. Compared with the relief obtained from the water release, the damage caused by the overflowing of the distributaries is negligible. There is a possibility of water being released into the Bheema through the Baragudi Nullah again to tide over the situation only if the top bureaucracy gives permission to do so.

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An experiment and an experience in water management