The government of Telangana has written to Karnataka recently requesting it to resume work on increasing the height of Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme anicut by 15 cm in tune with the agreement reached between Karnataka and unified Andhra Pradesh.
The work being executed by the Irrigation Department of Karnataka, as the anicut lies in its territory in Raichur district, was stopped earlier this month following protests by farmers of Kurnool district led by Mantralayam MLA Y. Balanagi Reddy. The MLA expressed fears that increasing the bund height would reduce water flow into Tungabhadra river and affect availability of water to KC Canal.
Sources in the government said that as per the agreement between the two governments, Rs. 52 crore was already deposited with Karnataka for execution of the work. “We have requested the Karnataka government to provide police protection at the work site to prevent any protests and enable execution of work at the earliest,” a senior official in the Irrigation Department said.
The decision to increase the anicut height by 15 cm was taken up to ensure flow of allocated water to the ayacut envisaged under the project mostly in Mahabubnagar district. The project is designed to irrigate 94,000 acres in Raichur district of Karnataka, Mahabubnagar of Telangana and Kurnool district of AP with 17.1 tmcft water allocation.
However, never in the 55-year history of the project the envisaged ayacut in Mahabubnagar district – about 80,000 acres in 75 villages of Gadwal and Alampur areas – has been irrigated as the farmers in the upper reaches of RDC canal never allow the water to flow to the ayacut downstream. The project officially irrigates another 6,580 acres of 15 villages in Raichur and 7,500 acres in four villages of Kurnool in upper reaches.
Meanwhile, sources said the Karnataka government has ordered the Raichur police on Saturday to provide protection at the RDS work site. The work is likely to resume in a few days once the water level in the anicut, which is at the crest level due to recent rains, recedes.
