H.S. NEELAKANTAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE applications have been taken on file as Application Nos. 267 and 268 of 2013 (SZ) in this Tribunal by transfer of the Writ Petition Nos. 47599/2011 (GM -RES -PIL) c/w 25255/2012 (GM -Res -PIL) by an order dated 8th July, 2013 of the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore. The brief facts of the case of the applicants can be stated as follows:

(2.) THE major population of Tarikere Taluk is engaged in agricultural activities and the main source of income is through agriculture. The entire Taluk is solely dependent on the rain and groundwater. The groundwater level in Tarikere taluk has depleted severely during the past and due to acute shortage of water, the farmers are not able to carry on the agricultural activity and there has been gradual exodus of the agriculturists to urban areas for better livelihood. They have been demanding water for irrigation and drinking water needs for several years from Bhadra dam which is about 20 km away from Tarikere. The farmers have also held protests against the implementation of the Upper Bhadra Project and on the basis of the representations made by the farmers, the Assistant Commissioner; Tarikere submitted a detailed report to the Land Acquisition Officer about the inconvenience that would be caused to the farmers of Tarikere Taluk due to implementation of the said project. Instead of giving consideration to the farmers' demand, the 1st to 3rd respondents intended to divert the water from Bhadra dam to fill up the tanks in Chitradurga, Kolar and Tumakuru districts on the ground that the same would improve the groundwater level and bring down water scarcity in those districts by diverting 21 tmc water from the dam. Though the 1st to 3rd respondents are very much aware about the problems faced by the Tarikere taluk, the first respondent passed a Government order No. JaSaEe 152 vibKaKe 2004 (Ba -1) dated 15.09.2008 for implementation of Stage I of Upper Bhadra Project at a cost of Rs. 5985 crore for lifting 21.5 tmc of water from Bhadra dam and to supply the water to Chitradurga and Kolar districts. The 2nd respondent company was incorporated in the year 1998 with an objective of expediting Upper Bhadra Project for the purpose of irrigating Chitradurga, Kolar and Tumakuru districts on the ground that the above districts are declared as backward and drought prone areas. It is pertinent to emphasise here that the Comprehensive Composite Development Index (CCDI) 2001 indicated Kadur taluk as backward taluk and even though the proposed diversion of water to the above three districts has to pass through Tarikere which has been declared as a backward taluk, the farmers of the taluk would be deprived of using even a drop of water from the said irrigation project. In order to achieve the objective, the second respondent intended to draw water from the Bhadra dam in Chikkamagalur district to Chitradurga, Kolar and Tumakuru districts and the same includes digging up deep canals/tunnels, intake structures, various lifting points, delivery chambers etc. The entire project involves laying of canals through reserve forest areas such as Aramballi, Grugigudda, Devaragudda, Janaklal State Forest, Lakkavalli State Forest and the forest area required for this project is 230 ha apart from 5015.7 ha private land, major portion of which is agricultural lands and small extent of undeveloped land.

(3.) THE Upper Bhadra Project involves digging of deep cut canals for more than 40 km and 9 km of tunnel, which passes through Tarikere Taluk affecting more than 5000 farmers in the vicinity. Presently, Tarikere Taluk, which is situated in Chikkamagalur District is declared as backward, and gets very less rainfall. It is pertinent to mention here that the entire Chikkamagalur District is supplied with only 1 tmc of water from Bhadra Dam to cater to its irrigation needs even though Bhadra Dam is situated in Chikkamagalur District. This clearly demonstrates the deprivation being faced by Chikkamagalur District farmers in general and Tarikere Taluk farmers in particular. If the statistics provided by the Government is compared with those in Chikkamagalur District, the Taluks of Chitradurga, Kolar and Tumakuru are far better placed than that of Chikkamagalur. Chikkamagalur District yields 200 tmc of water every year and 5 rivers flow through the said District and when there are several avenues for providing irrigation to Tarikere and Kadur Taluk, only 1 tmc of water is tapped for the entire Chikkamagalur District. Without providing irrigation to the fullest extent at the lowest cost, the proposed project of the respondents to draw water to other far off and better placed Districts by incurring huge expenditure to the exchequer, is clearly contrary to the well determined concept and preposition in basin irrigation, even on this ground, the entire Upper Bhadra Project is contrary to in -basin irrigation and tantamount to being a most illogical project. The Helsinki report on in -basin requirement has emphasized allotment of water to the in -basin first and only in the event of excess availability of water, diversion of the same to the next low lying area and not to high altitude area. In this connection, it is stated that the contour bed level (CBL) of Bhadra Dam is 620 and the CBL of Kolar, Chitradurga and Tumakuru are between 800 m and 950 m. The proposed project is not feasible.