JOIN US173 lift irrigation projects 'defunct' in State
Even as clamour for permanent irrigation project gets shriller in some parts of Karnataka, as many as 173 lift irrigation projects across the State have become ‘defunct.’
According to the statistics compiled by the Minor Irrigation department, a majority of the lift irrigation projects in North Karnataka have been rendered useless depriving irrigation facility to as much as 32,425 hectares of land.
The Minor Irrigation department has been taking up lift irrigation projects across the State to facilitate agricultural activities.
However, the projects are providing only ‘temporary reprieve’ on account of lax management and are no way becoming permanent solution for water scarcity.
According to officials in the department, the projects have fallen into disuse with farmers installing pumpsets in their lands. Supply of free power for motors up to 10 HP has come in handy for farmers to depend on borewells to irrigate their land.
Further, a majority of the lift irrigation projects have been planned long time ago and the machinery associated with them are too old or do not work at all. Farmers availing water from lift irrigation projects have to pay certain amount as user charge, which also works as a discouraging factor.
Assistant Executive Engineer Shankaramurthy told Deccan Herald that there had been a decline in demand from farmers. He admitted that the projects have become of no use in some cases on account of faulty machinery. He said 11 lift irrigation projects in Davangere district cater to 8,000 acres of command area.
Tejasvi V Patel, the General Secretary of State Sugarcane Growers’ Association, attributed the failure to poor management. He opined that a separate department should be formed for lift irrigation projects.
“In fact, there is no clarity whether the responsibility vests with Water Resource department or the Minor Irrigation department. Funds are not being released properly and thus the lift irrigation projects have turned out to be only ad hoc solutions,” Patel said.