Even the deluge has its uses

Bijapur has always had the tag of a perpetually drought-ridden district. And its water bodies have suffered from apathy and neglect. Many of them were, for several years, encroached upon and ill-maintained. Today, the scenario has completely changed. The water bodies are all brimming with water.

Take Borinala, near Chadachana in Indi taluk, for instance. All the rain water would flow through the canal to reach the Bheema river. The Minor Irrigation Department constructed a bridge-barrage near Havinala across the water body at a cost of Rs 2.48 crore. This has meant that all the rain water has been conserved. Today, this 105-metre-long, 3.5 metre tall water body stores 11.03 million cubic feet of water. Farmers in the Havinala-Chadachana region use this water to irrigate their crops.
At Kodaganur, a newly constructed tank is full. There are many such instances in the region.

Several water bodies to boast of...
Bijapur district has 85 irrigation tanks, apart from nearly 200 other water bodies. The irrigation tanks can provide water to 32,780 hectares of land. There are tanks that are spread across 510 acres of land here. The Mamadapur tank is the biggest tank in the state. The Begum talab (234 acres) is the second biggest. The tanks, which had gone dry prior to the floods, were being used by farmers as agricultural land. The authorities had turned a blind eye too, because the tanks had in any case gone dry. But in the recent years, these tanks have been rejuvenated.

“We will continue to take up tank rejuvenation projects on a war-footing. The Kodaganur tank and Havinala barrage work was completed in quick time, 65 days and five months respectively,” explains Minor Irrigation Department Executive Engineer R B Patil.
“Tank rejuvenation is the only answer to Bijapur’s water woes. We will allocate Rs 123 crore towards development and construction of tanks in the region this year,” explains Minor Irrigation Minister Govind Karjagol.

As many as 54 projects out of the 147 taken up in the district have been completed. The pending projects will be completed by the end of the year.
The government is planning to provide irrigation facilities to another 21,000 acres of land. And the rain gods have shown mercy too, on the region last year.