The final hurdle for taking up the modernisation of the canal and distributary network of the long-pending Bennethora Major Irrigation Project in Kalaburagi district has been cleared.
The technical evaluation report was submitted to Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. for final approval on October 16 after opening the technical bid for the project.
Sources in the Kalaburagi Irrigation Project Zone said that giving approval to the technical evaluation report by the managing director of KNNL was only a formality now.
Once it was received, the work on the modernisation of the right and left bank canals and distributaries in both the canals would begin at a cost of Rs. 171.37 crore.
Initial cost
Initially, the cost was put at Rs. 150 crore. But, a team of technical experts, who visited the project increased it to Rs. 172.12 crore taking into account the enormity of the work and other factors. Although the modernisation work has been technically sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 172.12 crore, the amount floated in the tender was Rs. 171.37 crore.
The last date for submission of the tenders was October 7 and the tender documents were opened on October 9. The Bennethora Major Irrigation project, taken up in 1972 as a drought relief work, got bogged down due to various reasons including lack of financial allocation.
The canals and distributaries, constructed even before impounding of the water in the Bennethora dam, were damaged due to the rigours of time.
Moreover, the lining of the canal and distributaries were done with the help of Shahabad stone slabs which had been damaged over a period of time.
Previous attempts to release water in these old canals resulted in leakage into agriculture fields, damaging standing crops.
To overcome this problem once and for all, KNNL decided to take up the modernisation of the canals, which included removing the Shahabad stone slab linings and replacing them with reinforced cement concrete linings up to 62.82 km of the 82.16-km-long right bank canal and up to 50 km of the 62.24-km-long left bank canal and the distributaries to prevent seepage of water into agricultural field, reconstruction of damaged cross drainages and aqueducts and repair of road bridges. The project has been allocated 5.29 tmcft water and is designed to provide irrigation facilities to around 21,000 hectares of parched land in drought-prone Chitapur and Sedam taluks.
