The areca growers of Shivamogga and the paddy growers of Davangere district are divided over the release of water from Bhadra reservoir at Lakkavalli in Chikkamagaluru district for irrigation purposes.
The paddy growers want the release of sufficient water, while the areca growers want the government to stop the release of water to protect their gardens in the coming summer. Farmers in both districts have been staging protests with their respective demands for the past few days.
Farmers in Shivamogga want the release of water stopped immediately. They staged a protest in front of the office of the Executive Engineer of the Bhadra Reservoir Project on Tuesday as well. However, on the other hand, the paddy growers in Davangere have been staging protests for the past few days, opposing any move to stop the water.
The farming community spread over Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, and Davangere districts is dependent on the reservoir. The 80-kilometre-long Left Bank Canal (LBC) takes water to paddy, sugarcane, areca gardens, and semi-arid crops spread over 6,367 hectares in Tarikere and Bhadravati taluks. Similarly, the 268-kilometre-long Right Bank Canal (RBC) takes water to Davangere district. A majority of the farmers benefited by the RBC are paddy growers.
In August, the dam authorities started releasing water from the RBC to benefit the paddy growers. As the rains failed, the areca growers in Shivamogga got worried that if sufficient water was not retained in the dam, the areca gardens would suffer in the coming summer. They began a protest in front of the BRP office on September 1, demanding that an Irrigation Consultative Committee (ICC) be convened to stop the water.
An ICC meeting was held on September 6 under the chairmanship of Madhu Bangarappa, Minister for School Education, who is also Minister in charge of Shivamogga. The meeting resolved to go for an ‘on and off’ system under which water would be released, but with a gap of a few days. None of the people’s representatives from Davanagere district attended the meeting held at the Bhadra Command Area Development Authority’s office near Shivamogga.
The farmers in Davangere district began the protests, stating that their paddy fields would get dry if water was stopped. They met people’s representatives and put pressure on them in this regard. However, the dam authorities did not stop water, though there was a decision to this effect in the consultative meeting. As per the meeting, water should have been stopped on September 16 itself.
Protest
The delay in stopping water forced the farmers to stage a protest in front of the BRP office on Tuesday, forcing the officers to stop the water. The outflow from the reservoir on Tuesday morning was 2,357 cusecs, which included 1,867 cusecs to the RBC and 300 cusecs to the LBC. Following the protest, water has been stopped.
The farmers in Shivamogga withdrew the protest after they were informed that the release of water had been stopped.
Water release stopped
The officers of the Bhadra Reservoir Project stopped the release of water on the Right Bank Canal on Tuesday, following protests by farmers in Shivamogga district.
N. Sujatha, Superintendent Engineer of Bhadra Reservoir Circle, told The Hindu that water had been stopped as per the decision taken at the Irrigation Consultative Committee meeting held on September 6.
The ICC resolved to have an off-and-on system with a 10-day gap after 20 days of continuous release.
