The Tungabhadra left-bank canal will be closed from November 15, five days earlier than the revised schedule, putting standing paddy crops across 12.6 lakh acres at risk in Karnataka’s Tungabhadra command area. The decision follows a sharp fall in reservoir storage and the near-total collapse of inflows into the basin.
SB Malligawad, superintending engineer of the Tungabhadra Project Circle, confirmed that irrigation water would be stopped from November 15. Farmer organisations in Koppal, Vijayanagara, Ballari and Raichur districts are opposing the early closure and have demanded that releases continue until November 30.
The irrigation consultative committee had initially scheduled canal releases for 90 days before extending them by 10 days to November 20. Farmers have argued that paddy requires irrigation for about 120 days and that the additional 10 days until November 30 are necessary to protect crops already standing in the fields.
The Tungabhadra reservoir has a gross storage capacity of 105.7 thousand million cubic feet, or tmcft. Its storage stood at 31.4 tmcft on Friday, including the allocated shares of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. On the corresponding day last year, the reservoir held 76.3 tmcft.
Combined discharge through the left- and right-bank canals was 8,668 cusecs. However, inflows into the reservoir have virtually dried up. Inflow fell from 1,351 cusecs on September 8 to 915 cusecs the following day, dropped to 70 cusecs on September 10 and stopped completely from September 11, according to the report.
Poor post-monsoon rainfall in the Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru regions has also reduced inflows into the Bhadra reservoir, worsening water availability across the Tungabhadra basin. Officials have indicated that the limited water remaining may need to be conserved for drinking purposes until June 2027.
District in-charge minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said Karnataka would release its allocated share of 7 tmcft into the canals until November 20. He said the government was attempting to extend the release until November 30 in the interest of farmers and had discussed the issue with Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The assurance has not resolved the dispute. Tungabhadra Raitha Sangha president Purushothamagouda said farmer organisations would intensify their protests unless the extension was formally announced. The proposed actions include laying siege to the dam and blocking a national highway. The farmers’ organisation submitted a memorandum to Malligawad on Thursday, seeking another 10 days of canal supply to protect standing paddy crops.
The immediate decision is whether irrigation releases will continue beyond November 20. The state government’s proposed extension to November 30 remains the next key step for farmers and the Tungabhadra command area.
