Flooding now, drought in summer: Extremes of Bhima basin

Kalaburagi: Severe floods have become a regular occurrence along River Bhima in Kalaburagi and its neighbouring districts.

Strangely though, villages on the banks of the river in Kalyana Karnataka region become parched every summer, forcing the government to make unheeded pleas to Maharashtra to release 15 tmc ft of water as per the Bachavat Commission’s order.

People in the region point out the absence of adequate infrastructure to store water, while the neighbouring state has constructed barrages and implemented irrigation projects.

Experts say the region lacks dams, barrages and lakes to store the water.

All 11 dams in Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Bidar districts have a total storage capacity of 24.721 tmc ft. The government has not yet completed the project to lift Bhima river water to Amarja barrage, to fill lakes in Afzalpur and Aland taluks. 

Sub-canals

Irrigation expert Bhimashetty Mukka laments the absence of sub-canals and distributor canals, depriving farmers of water for several decades now.

Bhima river, which originates in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, flows for
861 km through Karnataka and parts of Telangana, before joining Krishna river in Raichur district.

Farmer leaders say increasing the storage capacity of barrages and lakes will facilitate utilisation of more water.

This will help bring more than 2 lakh hectares of farmland under irrigation apart from supplying adequate drinking water to several villages and towns in summer.

“Last year, around 480 tmc of water flowed into Bhima river without being stored for later use. This year, people faced the worst flood situation as more than 1,000 tmc ft of water flowed in the river, due to early start of monsoon in May. Therefore, increasing the storage capacity through construction of more lakes will help groundwater recharge. But the government has failed to take steps for the construction of water storage infrastructure, besides reviving existing lakes,” said JD(S) leader Shivakumar Natikar.

District incharge Minister Priyank Kharge said the government had been pursuing the issue of illegal irrigation projects (dams) built in Maharashtra and steps would be taken to fight a legal battle against it, after consulting the advocate general.

He charged that the flood situation had worsened due to sudden release of water by Maharashtra from its reservoirs without prior intimation to officials in Karnataka.

“Maharashtra has built irrigation projects to store around 50 tmc of additional water. The government there is trying to legalise these projects and we have been vehemently opposing it. It lies about water shortage in its dams and is reluctant to release our share during summer. We will take up the issue seriously at a higher level. The Solapur-Vijayapura national highway witnessed unprecedented flooding this year as Sina river got so much water due to the illegal irrigation projects,” the minister said.