JOIN USThe project, when implemented, will be a boon for Lingasugur and Manvi taluks in the district and Hungund taluk in Bagalkot district.
On March 23, 2007, the managing director of the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) wrote to the government that the project may be implemented based on the availability of water.
As many as 14.43 tmcft of water will be available from the backwaters of the Narayanapura dam, thereby irrigating lands in and around Nandavadagi village (16 kms from Mudagal), upto a distance of 480 to 545 metres, in two stages.
The KBJNL had said that as many as 53,661 hectares of land in 36 villages of the three taluks can be irrigated once the lift irrigation project is completed.
Survey
Following sustained pressure in this regard by farmers’ organisations, the government had told the KBJNL chief engineer that a survey in this regard may be undertaken as per the transparency norms.
Leaders of farmers’ organisations in the region are of the opinion that the lift irrigation project can help completely irrigate 56 villages in the three taluks. The matter has also been discussed many times in the Assembly.
At one stage, the project was on the verge of being scrapped, leading to fresh agitations. The issue came up again in 2007, when K S Eshwarappa was the water resources minister, said former MLA N Bosaraj.
Eshwarappa had then said that the implementation of the project hinged on the final award of the Krishna Tribunal.
With the award giving 911 tmcft of water to Karnataka, the government will have to implement the lift irrigation project, says Bosaraj.
With Eshwarappa’s party, BJP, being in power now, hope floats that the lift irrigation project will indeed be implemented.