Farmers in Malaprabha command area threaten to re-launch protest for water

DHARWAD: With the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project that envisages diversion of water from River Mahadayi to Malaprabha stuck in legal entanglement and no solution to the dispute between Karnataka and Goa in sight, the farmers of Malaprabha command area are considering re-launching the agitation.
Karnataka Raitha Sena (KRS) has threatened to re-launch the agitation seeking water for agriculture and has convened a meeting of various farmers’ organisations in Dharwad on August 8 to discuss the action plan.
President of Mahadayi Horata Vedike Shankar Ambli said the Malaprabha project aimed at providing irrigation facility to 1.83 lakh hectares of agriculture land in nine taluks of four districts but as per the order of the Water Tribunal the water is being supplied for drinking purposes.
“We do not object to water being supplied for drinking purpose. However, legal hurdles for the implementation of Kalasa-Banduri Nala are not clearing and the successive governments have lacked the political will to resolve the issue. The farmers whose lands have been notified to be in the command area have invested huge money hoping to irrigate their lands but the failure of water to reach the tail end has left us in a quandary,” Shankar Ambali said.
He added that the government had failed to augment water for drinking requirements from other sources and is using water meant for irrigation.
“We can’t wait till the water dispute with Goa is resolved. The government should arrange to provide 21 tmc of water that is due to us or else pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre every year to the land coming under command area,” said Shankargouda Patil, vice president of Karnataka Raitha Sena.
Malaprabha command area is spread over nine taluks of Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag and Bagalkot districts. Savadatti, Ramadurg in Belagavi district, Nargund, Ron in Gadag district, Navalgund in Dharwad district and Badami in Bagalkot district together contribute 96 per cent of the their irrigated area, with total irrigation potential of 1.83 lakh hectares.
A dam across Malaprabha River was built near Naviluteertha in Saundatti in 1974. Then stated purpose of the project was to meet the drinking water requirements of the people in Command Area. However, the water was also being used for agriculture. With the availability of water for farming, the farmers in the command area who earlier used to cultivate crops that needed less water, switched over to water guzzling commercial crops such as paddy, sugarcane as well as horticultural crops.
The fact that farmers at the head and mid reaches of the irrigated belt of the project started using water for their entire land resulted in farmers at the tail-end villages in Navalgund and Ron facing severe drought and had forced them to launch an agitation in 1980. The agitation turned violent and four people were killed following police firing in Nargund and Navalgund on July 21, 1980.