Karnataka’s Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project Granted National Project Status: What It Means For People Of The State

Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday (16 February) announced that the high-powered steering committee under the Central Water Commission (CWC) of Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) has granted the national project status to Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project in Karnataka. This comes after the Investment Committee of MoJS had cleared the proposal last year in March.

While thanking PM Narendra Modi and Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat for speeding up the ambitious irrigation project, CM Bommai said, “It was former CM BS Yediyurappa who assigned me the task of making Karnataka water rich by utilising the excess water available in Krishna and Cauvery basins effectively. We also took up the Upper Bhadra Project in 2009. Water is now flowing to Vani Vilas Sagar Dam, which has made the region water rich.”

Further, CM Bommai also made a commitment to “start water conservation programmes to help the state have bountiful resources.”

What is the Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project (UBP) and why is it crucial?

The ambitious project under the aegis of Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd aims to irrigate 2.25 lakh hectares using 29.9 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from Tunga and Bhadra rivers, the right bank tributaries of Krishna river. The plan is to utilise the water from these rivers for micro-irrigation in the drought prone areas of central Karnataka, namely, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Davanagere, and Tumakuru.

The first phase of UBP envisages to lift 17.40 tmcft of water from Tunga River and fill the Bhadra reservoir via an 11.26 km long gravity canal powered by pumps at certain points. Following this, in the second phase, 29.9 tmcft of water will be directed from the Bhadra reservoir to a distribution chamber at Ajjampura through a 40.3 km long gravity canal marked by two pump houses to lift the water, an aqueduct at Jambadahalla, and a 7 km long tunnel.

This chamber at Ajjampura will distribute the water between Chitradurga Branch Canal and Tumakuru Branch Canal. While the former mentioned canal will supply the water to Chitradurga, Chikkamagaluru, and Davanagere districts, the Tumakuru Branch will run through Chitradurga, Chikkamagaluru, and Tumakuru districts. Around 367 tanks spread across the talukas in these districts will help the farmers in micro-irrigation augmented by lift irrigation method, particularly during the dry Kharif season.

Further, the project will also supply 2 tmcft of water to Vani Vilasa Sagara dam in Hiriyur taluka of Chitradurga District. While the primary object of the UBP is to provide relief to sustainable irrigation facilities in the drought struck areas, its secondary objective will be to dilute the dense fluoride content in the ground water of Chitradurga District.

The entire project is expected to positively impact more than 7.4 million people in the region.

What is the national project status and how will it help in the progress of UBP?

National Project Status by the Government of India provides financial assistance in the form of a central grant which is 90 per cent of the estimated or the balance cost of the project to ensure its time bound completion. Among several other criteria, central government guidelines state that only the projects with potential of covering more than 2 lakh hectares are eligible.

The Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project, whose total cost is estimated at around Rs 21,450 crore, meets all the criteria required to be tagged by the national project status. Around Rs 4,865 crore have already been spent on the project by the Karnataka government. Now, the approval by the Jal Shakti Ministry will ensure a central grant worth Rs12,500 crore, that is, 60 per cent of the total cost or 90 per cent of the balance cost of the project.

It is noteworthy that UBP will be the first project from Karnataka to receive national project status. This two decades old project, proposed in 2000, was approved in 2003 with an estimated cost of Rs 2,813 crore. However, the cost has skyrocketed as a consequence of several hiccups it faced in the form of stalled environmental clearances and delayed land acquisition.