Udupi (The Hindu): A range of complaints connected to the Varahi Irrigation Project greeted Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports Pramod Madhwaraj when he did spot inspections at Nailady, Halladi, Yadady-Matyady, Molahalli, Hardalli-Mandalli, Jamadagni, Halady, and Bharatkal villages in Kundapur taluk on Monday.

At Nailady, residents pointed out to Mr. Madhwaraj that while land had been acquired for the construction of the Varahi Left Bank Canal, no approach road had been constructed for three houses there. Now, they had approached court.

Another complaint was that the canal water was flowing into the Kakkunje rivulet and if construction had been carried out properly, it would have provided water to surrounding gram panchayats.

Residents at Halladi said that the construction of the canal distributory was wrong. Shankar Shetty, farmer, said that people could not cross the road during the monsoon as the water from the canal distributory overflowed onto the road. The water had been released into the distributary only because Mr. Madhwraj was visiting the area, he said.

Farmers at Hunsemakki in Molahalli said that despite a request water had not been released till the 27th km of the Left Bank Canal and as a result, many of their fields had gone dry.

At Basbail in the same village, residents complained that they had still not been paid compensation, though their fields and wells were flooded with water as a portion of the canal collapsed in 2015. Virupaksha, a farmer, said that even pumpsets of the farmers had been lost in the flooding.

Pratapchandra Shetty, MLA, said that a lake was filled with soil removed for canal construction at Jamadagni village. “The lake has been permanently lost,” he said. At Jithmaki in Halady, farmers demanded an outlet from the canal as it would help irrigate about 60 acres. At Bharatkal, Udaya, a resident of Mavinakudlu village, said that drinking water from the project should be supplied to 130 houses in his village facing water scarcity. The acqueduct at Bharatkal was also found leaking in a few places. Residents of Kulinje sought an approach road to the Bharatkal Bridge as it would reduce distance to nearby Shankarnarayana village by 5.5 km.

Though the engineers of the Varahi Irrigation Project tried to respond to the complaints, at most places people said that the engineers hardly had any knowledge of the problems and rarely visited them. Mr. Madhwaraj directed the engineers to be responsive to the plight of the residents, especially farmers.