Date:09/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/09/stories/2007060906410500.htm

Karnataka - Mysore

Tanks in Cauvery area to be revived

Staff Correspondent

K.S. Eshwarappa

MYSORE: In view of "unfavourable" report from Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), the Government has decided to rejuvenate and develop over 700 tanks by spending Rs. 300 crore, to irrigate 1.91 lakh acres of land, which comes under the purview of Cauvery Neeravari Nigama (CNN), Minister for Water Resources K.S. Eshwarappa has said.

He told presspersons that while the Government was exhausting all legal remedies to secure its share of water, to protect the interests of farmers in Cauvery Basin, the Government had decided to take up this special programme of breathing new life into dying tanks during the year, he said.

Giving details of the programme, he said that of the 1,353 tanks under the nigam, rejuvenation of 700 tanks would be taken up this year and the rest would be rejuvenated next year.

He said Rs. 700 crore had been spent for the works under the nigam last year. The Government allocated an additional Rs. 50 crore in the supplementary budget. As an extension of the programme, Rs. 881 crore had been earmarked for the purpose in the budget and the Government would not hesitate to provide additional funds for the development of tanks if needed, he added.

The process of giving administrative approval and inviting tenders would be completed by August 15 and work on rejuvenating 300 tanks in the first phase would start that day. Similarly, it had been decided to take up work on revitalising another 400 tanks on October 2.

Work on strengthening embankment, weir, removing silt and developing canals would be taken up under the programme. Reinvigoration of 700 tanks in one year was sure to improve the condition of groundwater, he said.

Before taking up this massive programme, the nigam had invited elected representatives from of 60 Assembly constituencies in Mysore, Kodagu, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Tumkur districts and discussed every aspect of revitalisation of tanks. Work would be taken up in three irrigation zones, including Gorur and Tumkur region.

While 300 tanks with a command area of 29,824 hectares would be rejuvenated at a cost of Rs. 80.57 crore, 250 tanks with a command area of 9,066 hectares would be developed at a cost of Rs. 69.74 crore. Similarly, 150 tanks with a command area of 13,000 hectares would be developed at a cost of Rs. 158.69 crore, he said.

A special workshop to guiding the officials on ways to rejuvenate tanks would be conducted on May 22 at Alumni Association Hall of Mysore Medical College and irrigation experts and representative of non-governmental organisations would participate in the workshop, he said.