Minister T Raghumurthy (3rd from L) along with MLAs after inaugurating a pilot project Sunday
Speaking at the Upper Bhadra Project intake point on Sunday, the minister declared that a 6-to-7-decade-long struggle has finally materialised. Once fully realised, the project will lift 17.4tmcft from the Tunga River to Bhadra dam and combine it with 12.5tmcft from Bhadra for a total of 29.9tmcft, eventually benefitting parched areas across Chitradurga, Tumakuru, Chikkamagaluru, and Davanagere districts by filling 367 lakes and providing drip irrigation across 2.25 lakh hectares. Because drip irrigation infrastructure remains under construction and lake-filling systems are only partially complete, however, as directed by the chief minister and water resources minister, the current release on Sunday is strictly limited to an experimental 3tmcft.
Shivamogga: Scheduled tribes welfare department and Chitradurga district minister T Raghumurthy on Sunday inaugurated a pilot project to release 3tmcft of water from the Bhadra Reservoir into the Chitradurga branch canal.