Tunga project may go the Almatti way

HYDERABAD, May 16: The Andhra Pradesh Government is gearing up for a battle on another water dispute with neighbouring Karnataka this time ...

HYDERABAD, May 16: The Andhra Pradesh Government is gearing up for a battle on another water dispute with neighbouring Karnataka this time on the Tunga Project in Shimoga district, which would jeopardise the interests of farmers in the Rayalaseema region of AP, and have a direct bearing on the Tungabhadra project.

A case pertaining to the project is already pending before the Supreme Court, along with the much publicised Almatti Dam dispute. Referring to the latest row sparked off in the Lok Sabha on the issue, State government officials maintained that the project had been a bone of contention between the two states for long.

Tracing the dispute to the pre-Bachawat award days, officials made it clear that they had a strong point in the case as the project would certainly affect the State’s interests.

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In fact, AP has already alerted its advocate on record and other counsels at the apex court in the Almatti case on the impending dispute regarding the Tunga project. Relevant documents and other information has already been furnished to its legal team.

In 1970, Karnataka proposed the project to irrigate one lakh acres in Shimoga district with a storage capacity of 12 tmc. The project, then called Bhadra, was one of the six projects proposed to utilise 38 tmc of water in Karnataka.

The Andhra Pradesh officials are now in possession of the report submitted by Karnataka to the Central Water Commission (CWC) and are studying it in depth. The detailed analysis assumes significance in view of the Almatti hearing in the apex court after vacations on July 21.

Though Karnataka tried to convince Andhra to take up Tunga by stating that the project would irrigate parts of Anantapur district in the State, it was turned down by the latter. Even a meeting organised by officials and non-officials of both the states at Hindupur, in 1980, on the matter was in vain.

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The Rs 667 project includes increasing the height of the Gajanoor reservoir, about 29 km from Shimoga, by nine metres, to impound more water. It will irrigate about 2.5 lakh acres of land in and around Dharwar district.

Barring correspondence with the Central Government, little progress has been achieved on the project so far and only Rs 15 crore has been spent in digging a 70-km canal.

Senior officials of Andhra point out that the project had been rejected by the Bachawat tribunal. Even farmers of Shimoga, which has fertile lands with horticultural gardens, were up in arms against the proposal as the dam would submerge vast tracts of lands, they recalled. Moreover, the Andhra officials are confident of stalling the Tunga project as the experts’ committee on Almatti has vindicated the State’s viewpoint, not only on the illegality of Karnataka’s move, but on the justification of the construction of Telugu Ganga and Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) on the Krishna.