Farmers threaten to block Express Canal, as govt plans to 'divert' Hemavathi water from Tumakuru to Ramanagar

BENGALURU: Water politics in Karnataka has taken a dramatic twist with steady unrest brewing in Tumakuru district. Political leaders cutting across the party lines, pontiffs of various mutts, farmer outfits, and independent organisations in various taluks of the district have resorted to protest against the state government’s decision to build ‘Express Canal’ to divert Hemavathi river water from Tumakuru to neighbouring Ramanagara district.

Holding a massive rally near the under-construction canal at D Rampura on the outskirts of Tumakuru on Thursday, the protesters gave an ultimatum to the state government to stop the work on the canal by June 5, failing which the farmers will themselves close the canal by filling it up with soil. Farmers from Tumakuru, Gubbi, Turuvekere, Chikkanayakana Halli, and Tumakuru Rural joined the protests in thousands. Symbolically expressing their angst, farmers and leaders during the protest threw fistfuls of soil into the ‘Express Canal’ site.

Tumakuru district, adjacent to Bengaluru Rural district with its headquarters located 80 km from the state capital, is largely an agrarian district and more than half of the district is dependent on the Hemavathi River for potable water and agricultural purposes. The left bank canal of the Hemavathi Reservoir cutting through the district irrigates and provides potable water to more than half of the district including Tumakuru City. However, the state government’s plan to divert the river water from Tumakuru to the neighbouring Ramanagara district via Kunigal has left farmers and citizens agitated.

Planning to draw about 0.75 tmcft of water from the Hemavathi canal near Kadaba in Tumakuru taluk as part of the Sriranga-Hemavathi Lift Irrigation project, the water will be taken to Magadi via Kunigal by way of ‘Express Canal’.

Even though the project was mooted way back in 2018 during the coalition government of Congress-JD(S), the work started only a few months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. DyCM and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar laid the foundation stone for the project before the polls.

Leading the protest on Thursday. Tumakuru Rural MLA Suresh Gowda said, “The state govt has begun the work on the Express Canal in a hush-hush manner without any consultation with the stakeholders. The two ministers from the district should have opposed the project during the cabinet meeting. Unfortunately, both of them have yielded to the pressure of DyCM Shivakumar. They have set out to provide water to the neighbouring district at the cost of their own district farmers.”

Gowda also charged that DyCM has been pursuing this project to help his brother-in-law and Kunigal MLA Dr HD Ranganath and his parliamentarian brother DK Suresh in Ramanagara.

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