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Amended Bill proposes two-year jail term, fine of ₹2 lakh for illegal drawing of water from irrigation canals
Bill tabled in the Legislative Assembly to stop theft of water from canals; irrigation court resolves disputes
Unauthorised use of water from canal includes drawing water from it by artificial means, through a tampered pipe or equipment.
| Photo Credit: file photo
Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Monday tabled the Karnataka Irrigation (Amendment) Bill, 2024, in the Legislative Assembly to prevent illegal tapping of water from irrigation canals and ensuring water reached the end users in irrigation schemes and canals maintained by the department.
Unauthorised use of water from canal includes drawing water from it by artificial means, through a tampered pipe or equipment. It also includes drawing water from the canal for purposes other than authorised and for areas other than for which supply of water from the canal was authorised.
Within 500 metres
The Bill envisaged granting of permission to extract and use groundwater within 500 meters from the centre of the lift irrigation scheme and irrigation canal.
Taking into consideration the purpose for use of water, the irrigation officer would be granting permission to drill, dig a well or create an artificial pond or any sort of water storage on both sides of the canal up to 500 metres from the centre of the canal, as notified by the zonal chief engineer.
Last week, Mr. Shivakumar said that the new law aimed to stop theft of water from irrigation canals by using bores or motors.
He termed the water theft in canals as “a major problem” in Mandya, Hassan, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and other districts having irrigation projects.
Many tail-end farmers were not able to receive water for their crops. He would pilot a Bill in a week’s time, Mr. Shivakumar said.
Whoever uses the groundwater from the centre line of the canal in violation of the law would be liable for punishment of imprisonment of two years or fine of ₹2 lakh or both, the Bill said.
For violation of any other clause of the Act, there would be imprisonment of one year and fine from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh or both.
Besides mentioning the purpose of use of water such as industrial, agricultural and domestic, the applicant should obtain no objection certificate from the executive engineer before applying for power connection for use of water. However, beneficiaries of the Ganga Kalyan scheme were not eligible to extract and use groundwater.
The Bill said that all existing users of groundwater within 500 metres from the center line of the canal should apply to the irrigation officer for grant of a certificate of registration recognising the users’ existing use of water within six months from the commencement of the Karnataka Irrigation (Amendment) Act.
Irrigation court
An irrigation court would be set up and an irrigation officer would inquire into or decide the dispute between the government and the person/parties involved. Irrigation officer not below the rank of superintending engineer had the power to summon persons involved in the dispute.
The irrigation court should dispose of all proceedings, including appeals filed before it within six months from the date of initiation of the proceedings.
The irrigation officer should forward the information regarding water rates due by persons to the concerned authorities of the Revenue Department to record in column no. 11 of the RTC. The applicant should submit the No Objection Certificate from the irrigation officer to the Escoms for withdrawal of water to the irrigation work.
The Bill also inserted “the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, (Central Act 30 of 2013) instead of the Land Acquisition Act, 1984, (Central Act 01 of 1994).
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