Krishnaraja Sagar Dam.
Credit: DH Photo
Mandya: Farmers' leader Sunanda Jayaram on Thursday said that the objective of constructing the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam, by Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, is marred by new water supply projects to Bengaluru and other cities.
Reacting to the launch of the Cauvary fifth phase project, to supply drinking water to 110 villages that were merged into Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) recently, Sunanda said that already, the farmers in the villages of Maddur and Malavalli taluks, at the tail-end of the canals that originate in KRS Dam, are not getting water for crops.
“Bigger and newer drinking water projects will only aggravate the problems of the farmers in Mandya district, as a major portion of the Cauvery River water from KRS Dam would be exploited for drinking water needs. The KRS Dam was built to irrigate farmlands. But now, most of its water is being used for drinking water purpose,” she pointed out.
Sunanda said, as per officials of the BBMP, Bengaluru city requires 2,250 MLD of water. “But only 1,450 MLD of water was available through the four phases of the Cauvery projects. The fifth phase of the project, executed at a cost of Rs 4,336 crore, will supply water to around four lakh houses in Bengaluru. With four phases of the project, Bengaluru was supplied 1.58 tmc-ft of drinking water every month. With the implementation of the fifth phase of the project, it has increased to 2.4 tmc ft of water per month”.
“The full capacity of the KRS Dam is 49.45 tmc ft of water. If water is supplied to Bengaluru for 12 months a year, Bengaluru alone needs 28.8 tmc feet, which is nearly 60 per cent of the full capacity. Besides, drinking water is supplied to Mysuru, Mandya, Channapatana and Ramanagar cities. Water can be spared for irrigation, only if the dam fills multiple times, in a year,” she said.
“The drinking water projects will have an adverse effect on farmers, agriculture and food production, in future. It is unfortunate that Malavalli MLA P M Narendraswamy presided over the event, that will badly affect the farmers of his own constituency. The onus is now on the farmers to fight for their rights and protect the water for agriculture,” Sunanda said.