Mandya: On Thursday, farmers’ leader Sunanda Jayaram stated that new water supply projects to Bengaluru and other cities undermine the goal of building the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam by Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar.
The farmers in the villages of Maddur and Malavalli taluks, at the tail-end of the canals that originate in KRS Dam, are already without water for crops, Sunanda said in response to the recent launch of the Cauvary fifth phase project, which aims to supply drinking water to 110 villages that were merged into Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Since a significant amount of the Cauvery River water from KRS Dam would be used for drinking water needs, larger and more recent drinking water projects will only make the issues facing the farmers in Mandya region worse. In order to irrigate farmlands, the KRS Dam was constructed. However, she noted that the majority of its water is currently used for drinking.
Bengaluru city needs 2,250 MLD of water, according to BBMP authorities, Sunanda added. However, the Cauvery projects’ four phases only provided 1,450 MLD of water. At an estimated cost of Rs 4,336 crore, the project’s fifth phase will provide water to about four lakh homes in Bengaluru. Bengaluru received 1.58 tmc-ft of drinking water per month from the project’s four phases. It has increased to 2.4 tmc ft of water per month with the completion of the fifth phase of the project.
The KRS Dam can hold 49.45 tmc feet of water at its maximum capacity. Bengaluru alone requires 28.8 tmc feet, or around 60% of the total capacity, of water if it is supplied for 12 months of the year. In addition, the cities of Mysuru, Mandya, Channapatana, and Ramanagar are supplied with drinking water. Only if the dam fills several times in a year can water be saved for irrigation, she stated.
Future food production, farmers, and agriculture will all suffer as a result of the drinking water initiatives. It is regrettable that P M Narendraswamy, the Malavalli MLA, presided over the event, which will negatively impact the farmers in his own district. Farmers now have the responsibility to defend their rights and safeguard agricultural water supplies, Sunanda stated.
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