The Water Resources Department on Monday conducted a workshop for officials about various provisions of the Karnataka Irrigation (Amendment) Act 2024, which will come into effect in due course.
K. Vishwanath Reddy, special officer to Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, instructed the department personnel to apprise themselves of the provisions of the act and take measures to crack down on illegal or unauthorized use of water from canals, rivers, and lakes, etc. for irrigation purpose.
The government amended the Karnataka Irrigation Act, 1965 (Karnataka Act 16 of 1965) to prevent illegal tapping of water and ensure water reaches the end user, and has received the consent of the Governor. The amended rules and the provisions of the Act will be implemented within two weeks, said Mr. Reddy.
Under the amended Act, many irregularities like siphoning off water from canals can be prevented, and this will help farmers in the tail-end region. The objective of the workshop was to apprise the department officials of the various provisions of the amended Act, he said.
Though there was an Irrigation Act in the State, Mr. Shiva Kumar, who is also the Water Resource Minister, observed during his tour of the north Karnataka region that pipes to siphon off water were installed all along the canal routes. On questioning the officials, it transpired that they did not have legal powers to crack down on such practices. Hence it was decided to amend the Act and give more teeth to it to prevent illegal diversion of water, said Mr. Reddy.
A draft amendment was prepared in consultation with 14 other departments before it was finally approved and tabled in the Assembly. After which the Council received the Governor’s nod, he added.
The resource persons stressed the fact that it was imperative, as per the amended Act, to secure permission for drilling a borewell, tapping groundwater, or creating water storage within 500 meters of the canal.
Resource persons and senior officials briefed the various legal and technical issues and clarified doubts of the officials.
Sujatha L. Jadhav, Joint Secretary to the government, Irrigation, K.G. Mahesh, Director of Karnataka Engineering Research Institute, senior officials of Irrigation Department, CADA chief Shiva Mahadevaiah, chief engineer, Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd., R.L.Venkatesh, and others were present.
Published – January 20, 2025 06:43 pm IST