Hassan: Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is also Minister for Water Resources, initiated the trial run of stage 1 of the Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water project at Kumbaradi in Sakleshpur on Wednesday.
He pressed the button to lift water from weir-1 at Kumbaradi Coffee Estate village by taking the name of deity Chamundeshwari. Shivakumar said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would visit the area to inaugurate the work, and he was only initiating the trial run of stage 1 of the project. “This is a highly ambitious project. I had watched the videos and photos of the trial earlier. I came here to inspect it personally. The trial of lifting water from five of the total eight weirs has been done. Water at the rate of 1,500 cusecs is being lifted,” he said. The water lifted from weir 1, 2, 4 and 5 would reach chamber four, and from there, it would be re-leased to a gravity canal. The work related to lifting of water and power supply, which started in 2014, has been completed.
Earlier, the pre-commissioning test activities were carried out to check the water flow. “The completion of the project was delayed owing to technical issues. There is a forest clearance issue too. We will address these. We will complete the project by March 2027,” he said. The project, estimated to cost Rs. 23,251.66 crore, envisages lifting 24.01 tmcft of water available during the monsoon from Yettinahole, Kadumanehole, Kerihole, and Hongada Halla in the Western Ghats of Sakleshpur taluk to drought-prone areas. Mr. Shivakumar inspected the work along with senior officers and elected representatives. Minister for Planning, D. Sudhakar, legislators K.M. Shivalinge Gowda, Sharath Bachche Gowda, Cement Manju, Additional Chief Secretary Gourav Gupta, Visvesaraya Jala Nigam MD Sannachitaiah, Hassan Deputy Commissioner C. Sathyabhama were present during the inspection.
75 lakh people will benefit from project
On Wednesday evening, a pilot test of Yettinahole irrigation was conducted. This project will benefit 75 lakh people of seven districts including Tumkur, Chikkamagaluru, Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga, and a small part of Ramanagara as well. At present, 550 cusecs of water is being pumped. Six times this water will be pumped and drained into the ocean.
