Those illegally drawing treated water from Kolar tanks to face action

Congress leader Krishna Byre Gowda speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

Members cutting across party affiliations, including those from Kolar district, on Tuesday expressed concern in the Legislative Assembly that hundreds of powerful farmers in the parched district were derailing the ambitious K.C. Valley project by illegally drawing water from tanks by installing irrigation pump sets.

Participating in a debate on the issue, Congress members K.R. Ramesh Kumar and Krishna Byre Gowda alleged that it was not possible to fill up the tanks in Kolar district with treated water from Bengaluru under the project as farmers were illegally drawing water from the tanks. Mr. Ramesh Kumar became emotional while expressing pain over the proj ect still not benefiting all farmers because of this issue.

Several members from the JD(S), Independent member Sharath Bache Gowda and Minister H. Nagesh, who is in charge of the district, too endorsed their views.

Replying to them, Minor Irrigation Minister J.C. Madhuswamy admitted that the government’s plan to fill 126 tanks in Kolar district through treated water from Bengaluru was yet to get completed though the project started 21 months ago as farmers were illegally drawing water.

So far, the government could fill up only 49 tanks and 93 check dams, the Minister said. Of course, the legal issues too had delayed the project, he added.

He declared that the government would now take stringent action against those illegally drawing water from tanks as it is against the Supreme Court’s guidelines.

Pointing out that the government was able to supply an average of 280 MLD of treated water, as against the commitment of supplying 440 MLD, he said efforts would be made to augment the supply in coming days.