Anantapur district getting the full complement of its share of water from the Inter-State irrigation project Tungabhadra Dam at Hospet might remain a distant dream with all the modernisation works that were taken up on the High-Level Main Canal (HLC) at an estimated cost of ₹470 crore in 2008 have been pre-closed by the State government.
Contractors of all the six packages in the HLC Stage -I had applied for pre-closure and work worth ₹148.6 crore has not been completed. In the HLC Stage-II project for modernisation of HLC’s branch canals, work on Yadiki Canal System is nearing completion with ₹22 crore and the balance remained due to land acquisition problems. Work on another three branch canals, valued at ₹350 crore, is in progress.
Modernisation works on the 105-km stretch of HLC in Karnataka portion have been completed bringing 4,000 cusecs up to the Andhra Pradesh border, but the A.P. portion of the canal is so weak that it cannot carry more than 1,800 to 2,000 cusecs with bunds breaching at several places and these incidents becoming a routine phenomenon now.
Tungabhadra’s HLC, which is supposed to bring 32 tmcft, yields only 21 tmcft due to the siltation of the dam and in the last 10 years, the district has been able to draw only between 10 tmcft and 15 tmcft. Last year, when the dam got filled to its brim at least thrice, Andhra Pradesh was not in a position to draw its quota of water.
In the current season, the inflows to TB Dam have been varying between 1 lakh cusecs and 1.5 lakh cusecs for the past one week and on Tuesday evening it was at 98,916 with reservoir storage being recorded as 80.17 tmcft.
Different packages
The modernisation works were tendered under different packages in 2008 from 105th KM to 189th KM of the HLC’s main canal, but the crucial structures that have to be modernised to allow full flow of water, have been left out and only canal lining and widening (earth work) has been done to some extent. The project was to be completed by 2012 without taking a crop holiday, but works worth ₹320 only progressed and the remaining portion remains unfinished.
If the State Finance Department completes the modernisation contracts closure process, only repair works can be taken up for the current and next season and unless there is a strong public / political pressure, the widening and modernisation works might end at this stage.
