Karnataka - Raichur   

Farmers demand water for paddy crop

Raichur: Farmers in the tail-end regions of Manvi and Raichur taluks have urged the district administration to direct officials of the Water Resources Department to regularise the supply of water to the tail-end of the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal (TLBC) command area to save standing crops.

In a memorandum submitted to the Deputy Commissioner here on Saturday, the Tail-end Farmers’ Horata Samiti said they had cultivated paddy on a large scale during the kharif season. Agricultural fields in Kuradi, Hokrani, Kallur and Sirwar villages in Manvi taluk were the worst hit. Paddy had been raised in more than 20,000 hectares and needed continuous water supply till harvest. They had been facing water shortage for the past 15 days owing to lack of water management in the upper command area. Water was being supplied once in two weeks.

The samiti members said the affected areas should have received water supply in the third week of this month. The officials had promised to regularise water supply to the affected areas by November 27. But water had not been supplied to this stretch of the canal, they said.

Water supply in the canal had been affected at a time when the harvesting season was near. The Tungabhadra Irrigation Consultative Committee had decided to suspend water supply in the main canal for 15 days from December 15. It was feared that the standing crops would wither if water was not released in the canal immediately, the memorandum said.

The Government would be held responsible in case the standing crops were affected owing to shortage of water, the members warned.

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