Siddaramaiah Inaugurates Varahi Irrigation Project

THE HINDU -05th MAY 2015

KUNDAPUR:The promise of providing water to agricultural land was  partially fulfilled in Kundapur after 35 years with the official launch of Water Irrigation Project from Varahi river.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah formally inaugurated the project at Hole Shankaranarayana on Monday.

The work on the left bank canal (LBC), which is laid up to 30 kilometres, has been completed till Bidkalkatte, and the work on the right bank canal (RBC) was completed for 18.72 km from the diversion weir, which is constructed across Varahi River at Horiyabbe near Siddapur.

Also, a 1,645-metre-long tunnel, an 806-metre-long aqueduct and other works at RBC are completed and this would irrigate about 312.64 hectares of agricultural land, the CM said.

Later, during a programme held at Government High School Ground in Siddapur, Siddaramaiah claimed that 60 per cent of the work on the project was completed after the Congress came to power in the state.

He said Varahi Irrigation Project has a vision to irrigate the agricultural land in the region, however the project was stalled for about three decades.

The Chief Minister said the project is aimed at irrigating 40,000 acres of agricultural land, while in the first phase, it will irrigate  6,000 acres. 

After the remaining works on the distribution channels are completed, the entire 40,000 acres of agricultural land will be irrigated within two years, he added.

Siddaramaiah said the state government will set aside Rs 50,000 crore for taking up or completing various irrigation projects across the state in five years.

Water Resources Minister M B Patil, Rajya Sabha member Oscar Fernandes, District Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake and others were present.

Budget Increased by 60 Times

The initial budget of Varahi project was Rs 9.43 crore and the project cost increased to Rs 600.33 crore in 35 years.  The project was approved by the state government in 1979 as a power generation project, but following fears of submerging 1,019 acres of forest land, it was changed to a lift irrigation project in 2001. 

As the lift irrigation project would affect only 129.60 hectares of forest land, the project was found feasible.

The irrigation project, on completion, is designed to irrigate 40,000 acres in Kundapura and Udupi taluks. The project aims at supplying water to farming land in 180 villages.

60% work on Varahi project completed

THE HINDU - April 13, 2015

Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake has said that nearly 60 per cent of the work on the Varahi Irrigation Project in Udupi district had been completed.

He was speaking after inaugurating various development works initiated by the Amasebail Charitable Trust along with the Amasebail Gram Panchayat, Karnataka Bank Ltd., Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project here recently.

Mr. Sorake said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would inaugurate the first phase of the Varahi Irrigation Project, which was expected to provide irrigation to about 3,000 hectares of land, on April 20. The Varahi project, for which foundation stone had been laid 35 years ago, progressed at a snail’s pace, but the work has picked up speed in the last two years.

He visited 16 gram panchayats in the district a few weeks ago, to gather the opinions of the people about the K. Kasturirangan Panel’s Report on Conservation of Western Ghats. The State government in its report to the Centre recommended that habitations of people on the borders of the Ghats should not be disturbed. The existing forest area could be conserved, he said.

Mr. Sorake said that gram panchayats had little funds. They were now restricting their activities only to holding gram sabhas for selection of beneficiaries. They should focus on development activities, he said.

Presiding over the function, N. Santosh Hegde, former Lokayukta, said that when he was the Lokayukta of the State, he had submitted reports on illegal mining and illegal sand mining. But the State had not taken any action on them. The government should either accept or reject the reports instead of keeping them in a limbo, he said. There were two times more the number of below the poverty line (BPL) cards in the State than the number of BPL persons, he said.

Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLC, said the State government should fully implement the Ramesh Kumar Committee Report that had suggested amendments to the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act. This would go a long way in strengthening the gram panchayats. Fighting corruption was a tough job no matter which party was in power, he said.