The Hindu : Water to be released into TLBC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 01, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Water to be released into TLBC

By Our Staff Correspondent

Raichur Feb. 28. Water from the Tungabhadra Reservoir will be released into the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal (TLBC) for about 15 days from Saturday to meet the drinking water requirement of the affected villages and camps in the command area in Koppal and Raichur districts.

About 2,500 cusecs of water per day will be released into the canal for the first six days, and an additional 2,000 cusecs of water per day for nine days.

The decision to release water was taken at a meeting in Bangalore on Thursday. The Minister for Water Resources, H.K. Patil, presided over the meeting.

The ministers in charge of Raichur and Koppal districts, Raja Amareshwara Naik and Mallikarjuna Nagappa, respectively, Chennabasappa, Irrigation Secretary, N.S. Bose Raju, Manvi MLA and Chairman of the Hyderabad-Karnataka Development Board (HKDB), Srirangadevarayalu, Gangavathi MLA and Chairman of the Karnataka Khadi Board, Syed Yasin, Raichur MLA, and Hampangouda Badarli, Sindhanoor MLA, participated.

The representatives of both the districts said at the meeting that the Government was forced to close the canal on December 25 in view of the low storage in the reservoir on account of the lack of rainfall last year. The situation had forced the ayacutdars in the command area to give up summer crops. The closure of the canal for a long period had affected the drinking water supply to about 450 villages and camps along the canal, they added.

Mr. Patil told the meeting that the reservoir had a total storage of 9.23 tmcft. of water. Of that, 5.23 tmcft. of water was available to Karnataka, and the rest had been allocated to Andhra Pradesh.

Of the 5.23 tmcft. of water available, 3.63 tmcft. of water had been allocated to the TLBC, which had to be utilised exclusively for meeting the drinking water requirement of the affected villages and camps in the command areas of Koppal and Raichur districts.

The remaining 1.60 tmcft. of water allocated to the Raya Basawa Canal would be utilised to supply water to crops in the command areas of Gangavathi and Kampli. No allocation was available for Bellary District, Mr. Patil said.

But, Mr. Nagappa objected to supply of water to Raichur District, and said the storage in the reservoir would not be sufficient to meet the drinking water requirement of both the districts till the onset of monsoon. The storage would only help meet the requirement of the people in Gangavathi taluk of Koppal District for five months. He demanded that the meeting decide to reserve the water available for supplying drinking water to Koppal District.

Mr. Raju, Mr. Badarli, and Mr.Yasin requested Mr. Patil not to concede the demand, as water available in the reservoir should be shared by Raichur and Koppal districts. They said areas along the canal in the two districts had been facing an acute shortage of drinking water since the closure of the canal.

Mr. Patil asked the representatives of the districts to resolve the issue amicably, and ensure that villages and camps along the canal did not face water shortage in summer.

Later, it was decided to release water into the canal.

Mr. Patil suggested to officials of the Irrigation Central Zone of Munirabad to ensure that water released into the canal was utilised only for drinking purpose.

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