A lift irrigation project has filled the lake at Halepura village in Hunsur taluk, with former legislator H.P. Manjunath saying efforts during his three terms as Hunsur MLA had helped bring water to 131 lakes in the constituency.
Mr Manjunath made the statement after offering bagina, a traditional ceremonial offering, at the Halepura lake. The event followed the filling of the lake through the lift irrigation project serving the village.
According to the report, the project draws water from the Lakshmanatirtha river to supply lakes in the region. Mr Manjunath said he had initiated efforts to fill lakes through lift irrigation from the river during his tenure as a legislator.
He also referred to earlier work associated with former Chief Minister D. Devaraja Arasu, who had arranged for lakes to be filled through canals connected to the Lakshmanatirtha river about a decade ago. The lakes were subsequently maintained through the Minor Irrigation Department, providing water for farming communities, he said.
Mr Manjunath said ₹82 crore had been used for supplying water to 52 lakes under the lift irrigation effort. The figure includes 49 lakes in Hunsur taluk and three lakes in the neighbouring H.D. Kote taluk, according to his statement.
The former MLA also referred to a request made by the late former legislator Chikkamadu to supply water to three lakes in the border areas of H.D. Kote taluk. Mr Manjunath said water had been diverted to those lakes using the lift irrigation project serving the constituency.
The claims place the Halepura event within a wider effort to use river water and lift irrigation systems to support lake filling in the region. Unlike gravity-fed canal systems, lift irrigation requires water to be raised and conveyed to locations that cannot be served solely by natural elevation differences. The report, however, does not provide details of the individual project components, operating costs, water volumes or the current storage levels of the 52 lakes.
The event also highlighted the social role of lake-filling programmes in villages dependent on agriculture. Women from Halepura carried ceremonial pots in a procession before the offering was made at the lake. The gathering was attended by Congress party taluk unit president Gaddige Devaraj, D.K. Kunnegowda, Gagenahalli Kumar, Puttamma, Chandragauda, Shivrudracharya, B.P. Swamy, Raviprasanna, Raghu, Swamigauda and Papashetty.
The report did not specify the next operational steps for the Halepura lake or provide a separate timeline for supplying water to the remaining lakes mentioned in the statement.
