New law in Karnataka to stop theft of irrigation water, announces D K Shivakumar

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will introduce a new law to stop theft of water from irrigation canals, which Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar described in the Assembly on Tuesday as “a major problem”.

Shivakumar, who is also the water resources minister, said he will pilot a Bill in a week’s time.

“This is a major problem in Mandya, Hassan, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and other districts having irrigation projects. Water isn’t reaching the tail-end anywhere,” Shivakumar said.

“Water is being siphoned off from canals using bores or motors,” Shivakumar said.

Shivakumar was responding to a question by Jamkhandi BJP MLA Jagadeesh Shivayya Gudagunti on why water under the Tungala-Savalagi lift irrigation project is not reaching the intended last village. “That’s because 90 per cent of the water is being siphoned off,” Shivakumar replied.

The threat posed by theft of water is so grave that Shivakumar expressed concerns over the Yettinahole project. This project aims to draw 24 tmcft of water from the Yettinahole river in Sakleshpur taluk in Hassan district to meet the drinking water demands of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Ramanagara and some parts of Bangalore Urban districts.

“We’ve already spent Rs 25,000 crore on the project. But I’m scared that water won’t reach Tumakuru,” Shivakumar said.

Shivakumar said lift irrigation projects are being taken up to pump water into canals. “If this water that we’re lifting is in turn being lifted and taken as far as 10 km away, how will farmers benefit? What's the point of taking up projects?” he said.

Citing examples, Shivakumar said water from the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam does not reach Malavalli. “In Gadag, it’s been 20 years since a channel was made, but people there haven’t seen water at all,” he said.

“I’ve examined how we can control this. I’ll bring a Bill in a week’s time. The Bill is ready,” Shivakumar said, adding that people can be stopped from siphoning off water. “Officials can do little. We politicians should take a stand. Why have we created channels? It's so that water can flow till the tail end.”

Members from the Opposition BJP welcomed Shivakumar’s announcement of bringing a new law.

In fact, Shivakumar had spoken about introducing a law like this in 2019 when he was the water resources minister in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government.