BELAGAVI
Concerned over weakening monsoons, farmers in north Karnataka fear that the reservoir of the Naveelteerth dam on River Malaprabha may not be filled to its capacity and this could incite more protests for Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project. According to official sources, due to weaker monsoon since last fortnight in the catchment areas, the inflow in the two major irrigation projects has reduced considerably. Despite notable improvement in storage levels in the Naveelteerth reservoir across Malaprabha river near Saudatti and Raja Lakhamagouda reservoir across the Ghataprabha river at Hidkal of Hukkeri taluka, farmers are deeply concerned about the reduced inflow. The officials said after an overall assessment of the situation, farmers sense that the two reservoirs may not be filled to the brim in the wake of the weakening monsoon. According to information from official sources in the Krishna Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL), on Tuesday, the situation in Naveelteerth was not heartening and the reservoir was about 21 ft short of its full reservoir level (FRL) of 2079.50 ft. “The reservoir requires huge inflows to touch its FRL level,” a KNNL official said. As on Tuesday, the level at the Malaprabha was 2058.90 ft, which was 20.60 ft less against the FRL of 2079.50 ft. The live storage at the dam was 12.311 tmc ft as against the gross storage of 15.696 tmc ft. The inflow had declined to just 1,379 cusecs. The water level at the Raja Lakhamagouda reservoir recorded on Tuesday morning was 2163.25 ft, which was still 11.75 ft less than the FRL of 2175 ft. The gross storage recorded was 41.92 tmc ft of which the live storage was 39.90 tmc ft. The inflow had come down to 6,220 cusecs. Though this year the monsoon has reached a level of satisfaction, north Karnataka region still requires more rain to improve the inflow of water in these reservoirs. “In case the region doesn t receive good rains in next couple of days, the reservoirs may not fill to the brim which in turn may incite more protests in the region for the implementation of Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project,” Siddappa Moudagi, state president of the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj informed.
