The Hindu 31.12.2013
Bennethora, Mullamari projects to be reconstructed
Only the dam portions will be retained: Minister
The State government has decided to reconstruct the
canals, distributaries and field irrigation Channels (FICs) of the
Bennethora Major Irrigation and the Lower Mullamari Medium Irrigation
projects. It has directed the Irrigation Department officials to prepare
detailed estimates for the reconstruction work and submit it at the
earliest.
Both Bennethora and lower Mullamari
projects are among the long-pending irrigation projects taken up way
back in early 1970s, as part of drought relief work. Despite the
government pumping in funds every year for their early completion, both
of the projects are yet to be completed.
Medical
Education Minister Sharan Prakash R. Patil and Municipal Administration
and Waqf Minister Qamarul Islam, who presided over the quarterly review
meeting of the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) here on Monday,
said that as a one-time measure, the government had decided to redo the
projects, except for the dam portions. The government had come to the
conclusion that there was no point in peace-meal approach to the
problems dogging both the projects. All the previous attempts to correct
the flaws in canals and distributaries in both the projects had failed,
the two Ministers said.
Incidentally, Bennethora
project was hurriedly inaugurated by the then Chief Minister H.D.
Kumaraswamy in July 2006, even though it had not been completed fully,
and without conducting a trial run on whether the water reached the
farmers’ fields.
The Bennethora project, which had
been allocated 5.2 tmcft water, was designed to provide irrigation
facility to 20,234 hectares of parched lands in drought-hit Chittapur
and Sedam taluks in Gulbarga district. The lower Mullamari project had
been allocated 3.08 tmcft water and designed to irrigate 8,100 hectares
of land. Both the projects in the Krishna basin would have proved to be a
boon to farmers. Chittapur MLA Priyank Kharge blamed what he termed
corrupt and inefficient officials for the failure of the Bennethora
project. “All the officials working in the project should be removed and
a new set of committed officials posted for its early completion,” he
said. The Irrigation Department officials said that the work on another
long-pending irrigation project at Amarja in Aland taluk was on the
verge of completion. Designed to irrigate about 8,900 hectares of land,
the project would be completed before the end of March, 2014. Similarly,
the construction of FICs in the Bhima Major Lift Irrigation project had
been taken up now, they said.
