The Navale Balancing Reservoir, a new dam proposed to be built across River Tungabhadra near Navale village in Koppal taluk, is a permanent announcement in most Budgets presented in the last few years. However, no Budget has made any specific allocations for implementing the project.
The purpose of building the new reservoir was necessitated by the huge amount of silt accumulated on the bed of Tungabhadra reservoir near Hosapet in Vijayanagar district. As per estimate, over 32 tmcft of silt is accumulated on the reservoir bed, at the rate of around half a tmcft per year in the last 70 years, diminishing the water storage capacity of the dam.
Farmers in Koppal, Raichur, and Ballari, which are dependent on Tungabhadra waters for irrigation, have been demanding addressal of the issue either by dredging the reservoir or building another reservoir to compensate for the loss of storage. Since the dredging of a reservoir as huge as Tungabhadra is almost out of the question because of technical complexities, the government had decided to build a balancing reservoir at Navale in Koppal district.
Since Tungabhadra, a tributary of Krishan, is an inter-State river and Tungabhadra reservoir is an inter-State project involving Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, Karnataka needs to consult other two States before implementing the project. Though no concrete decision has been taken on the project in the last several years, the promise of constructing a new reservoir continued to be made by successive governments in their Budgets.
“Action will be taken to implement the project to address the problem of contraction in water storage capacity of Tungabhadra dam due to silt accumulation. This will be in consultation with and agreement of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in his Budget speech on Friday.
Senior farmers’ leader from Raichur Chamarasa Malipatil termed the announcement as one made to mislead the people and blamed local politicians for their lack of will to get the project implemented. “I have been, for the last 10 years, seen governments making promises of constructing the Navale Balancing Reservoir. Neither the successive government took it seriously nor did the elected representatives from the region have any will to get the project implemented,” Mr. Malipatil told The Hindu.
