While appreciating and welcoming the efforts of farmers to voluntarily remove silt from the parched Tungabhadra reservoir, the Karnataka government said their endeavour was " the only tip of an iceberg" and that it was an impossible task to desilt the reservoir even if government is involved.
Farmers of the Tungabhadra reservoir basin, under the banner of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene, have been willingly removing silt from the reservoir in Ballari's Hosa pete, 335 km from Bengaluru, from May 18 alleging that the state government is not making ef forts to recoup its le gitimate share of water from the Tungabhadra reservoir.
"The farmers are making a great effort but it won't reap the desired result because they can only remove 0.11 % of the silt from the reservoir," said water resources minister M B Patil during the debate on drought in the assembly on Tuesday . This was only after opposition leader in the legislative assembly Jagadish Shettar criticized the government for supporting their venture.
According to Shettar, the engineers had recommended removing of 0.5% of silt every year when the dam was opened in 1953 but successive governments ignored their instructions, resulting in the accumulation of 37 tmft of silt and reducing the storage capacity, causing shortage of water for irrigation in the Tungabhadra command area.
"We need a massive 76 acres of land to dump the silt at 10 feet and thousands of crores to desilt the reservoir which has gone dry owing to drought after years. It's not feasible. Instead, we are planning to desilt a nearby balancing reservoir and storage water to fulfill the farmers' demands," he added.
Farmers in the region have deployed more than 100 tractors and 10 earth movers at the dam site near Vyasanakere in Hosapete to desilt the reservoir.
No drinking water crisis: Thimmappa
While patting his own back over "a slew of drought relief measures taken by the state government", revenue minister Kagodu Thimmappa on Tuesday claimed there was not a single complaint regarding drinking water crisis in any village of Karnataka during summer. Replying to a debate on drought relief in the assembly, Thimmappa said he had told all deputy commissioners that he would take stern action if he came across any complaint about water crisis in villages under their jurisdiction. "It seems to have worked," he added.
Farmers of the Tungabhadra reservoir basin, under the banner of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene, have been willingly removing silt from the reservoir in Ballari's Hosa pete, 335 km from Bengaluru, from May 18 alleging that the state government is not making ef forts to recoup its le gitimate share of water from the Tungabhadra reservoir.
"The farmers are making a great effort but it won't reap the desired result because they can only remove 0.11 % of the silt from the reservoir," said water resources minister M B Patil during the debate on drought in the assembly on Tuesday . This was only after opposition leader in the legislative assembly Jagadish Shettar criticized the government for supporting their venture.
According to Shettar, the engineers had recommended removing of 0.5% of silt every year when the dam was opened in 1953 but successive governments ignored their instructions, resulting in the accumulation of 37 tmft of silt and reducing the storage capacity, causing shortage of water for irrigation in the Tungabhadra command area.
"We need a massive 76 acres of land to dump the silt at 10 feet and thousands of crores to desilt the reservoir which has gone dry owing to drought after years. It's not feasible. Instead, we are planning to desilt a nearby balancing reservoir and storage water to fulfill the farmers' demands," he added.
Farmers in the region have deployed more than 100 tractors and 10 earth movers at the dam site near Vyasanakere in Hosapete to desilt the reservoir.
No drinking water crisis: Thimmappa
While patting his own back over "a slew of drought relief measures taken by the state government", revenue minister Kagodu Thimmappa on Tuesday claimed there was not a single complaint regarding drinking water crisis in any village of Karnataka during summer. Replying to a debate on drought relief in the assembly, Thimmappa said he had told all deputy commissioners that he would take stern action if he came across any complaint about water crisis in villages under their jurisdiction. "It seems to have worked," he added.