Govt keen on utilising 75 tmcft water under Upper Krishna Project Stage 3 from June 2022
BELAGAVI: The State Government has created infrastructure to utilise 75 tmcft of water of the 130 tmcft earmarked for the Upper Krishna Project 3rd Stage (UKP-III) project under pressure from farmers. The State Government proposes to provide 75 tmcft of water to farmers from June 2022 onwards for irrigation in the drought-prone areas of Kalyana Karnataka.
The counsel for Karnataka informed the Supreme Court on Monday that 60% of irrigation infrastructure in the command area of 5.94 lakh hectares will be ready by June 2022 for utilisation of 75 tmcft. However, the stakeholders in the Krishna river water sharing — Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — have sought two weeks’ time from the court to reply.
The Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal (KWDT) had passed an order for sharing of Krishna water among three riparian states — Karnataka, AP and Telangana — on December 30, 2010. Of the 173 tmcft of water allocated to Karnataka by the tribunal, a provision has been made for utilisation of 130 tmcft of water under UKP-III.
According to sources, the utilisation of 130 tmcft under UKP-III involves infrastructure development like increasing the present storage capacity of Almatti reservoir, creation of canals, etc. The UKP-III works are split into 9 sub-components — Mulwad lift irrigation scheme (LIS), Chimmalgi LIS, Indi LIS Extension, Rampur LIS Extension, Koppal LIS, Herkal LIS, Mallabad LIS, NRBC extension, and Bhima flank (extension of Shahpur branch canal of Narayanpur left bank canal).
The State Government has accorded administrative approval for UKP-III, which was estimated at Rs 17,207 crore, on January 24, 2012. However, the works could not be fully taken up on account of delay in the publication of the modified final order, dated November 29, 2013.
The cost was consequently revised in 2017 to Rs 51,149 crore by granting administrative approval on October 9, 2017. So far, until the end of September 2021, Rs 13,321 crore has been spent on the project towards the construction of civil infrastructure, land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation, sources added.
A delay of further four years since 2017 has led to an increase of the project cost to Rs 65,000 crore. The State Government says that by utilising 75 tmcft in the drought-prone area, the socio-economic conditions of the farmers will undergo dramatic changes.