The State government has decided to impose a ban on using water for irrigation or release of water for irrigation from the barrages constructed across rivers in drought-hit areas in the State. The available water in the barrages has been set aside to meet drinking water requirements in the coming days.
Municipal Administration and Minorities Welfare Minister Qamarul Islam, presiding over the quarterly Karnataka Development Programme review meeting in Kalaburagi on Friday, said the depleting water supply in barrages due to lack of rainfall in the catchment areas has forced the government to take such a decision. All the available water would be used only to meet the drinking water requirements in urban and rural areas.
Deputy Commissioner Vipul Bansal, who was also present, said the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (Gescom) authorities would be directed to disconnect electricity to all irrigation pumpsets near the barrages to conserve the water.
Mr. Qamarul asked the officials of the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. and the Irrigation project zone of Kalaburgi to present in the special review meeting on Monday, the details of the current storage in reservoirs constructed across the Bhima, the Kagina and others, which are used for both irrigation and drinking water requirements. This would help take stock of the availability of water.
He said although the State government was aware of the problems faced by the farmers and the need for water for irrigation, the first priority of the government was to meet the drinking water requirements. Based on the availability of water, the government would take a decision on staggered supply of drinking water.
Crop loss survey
Mr. Qamarul also directed the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments to complete the joint survey of crop loss in the district by Saturday evening and submit a report. The district administration should also be ready with all information pertaining to crop loss to present it before the Central study team, which is expected to tour the affected areas in the district either on September 6 or 7.
He also directed the Revenue Department to hasten the process of overcoming the difficulties in transferring the compensation amount to the accounts of farmers who had suffered losses due to heavy rains and hailstorm last year. In Chincholi, many farmers could not get the compensation due to some technical issues.
