Have expedited lake-filling projects in all districts: Karnataka minister JC Madhuswamy

MYSURU: Minor irrigation minister JC Madhuswamy on Saturday said that his department has expedited the government's ambitious lake-filling projects in all districts including Chamarajanagar and Mysuru.
The project aims to improve the groundwater table, supply water for drinking purposes, and promote lift and other minor irrigation activities.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting various development works of his department in Mysuru, the minister said that the project worth Rs 291 crore was successfully implemented in Chamarajanagar. It has benefited several farmers as over 54 lakes in Chamarajanagar and Nanjangud taluk of Mysuru has been filled after pumping water from the Kabini river. The project has been extended to the rest of the lakes in Kollegal, Hanur, and Gundlupet taluks.
Similar projects are being implemented in 14 districts including Belagavi, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Tumakuru, water-starved Kolar, and Chikkaballapur.
His department has also taken up measures to fill water in over hundreds of lakes in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts under phase II of the KC Valley project by making use of treated sewage water from Bengaluru.
His department has also implemented projects worth crores to build bridge-cum-barrages across the Swarna river and Nethravathi river in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts to irrigate thousands of hectares of farmland. This project also aims at arresting the intrusion of saline water in the river.
This project fills the lakes throughout the year which would otherwise dry up during the summer. The groundwater table improved in several districts including Kolar, and Chamarajanagar after the implementation of this project where the groundwater table had dropped, he said.
The minister said his department has also given fillip to watershed development activities by expediting the construction of check dams. There is a provision for farmers to construct check dams, and improve bunds under the MGNREGA scheme, he said.
Madhuswamy said that the state government has also extended the process of inviting applications for the distribution of bagair hukum land for another year. As the state government was distributing title deeds and other land ownership rights to these land cultivators since 1989, his government has also decided to issue such title deeds for the farmers who had been cultivating this land before 2005, after verifying all their records.
“The taluk level committee headed by MLAs will recommend the distribution of ownership rights to these cultivators,” he said.