Claims, counter-claims over sharing Hemavati waters trigger a row Premium

Calm returns to Sankapura village after farmers protest against Hemavati Express Link Canal Project in Karnataka.

Calm prevails at Sankapura village, nestled amid coconut and arecanut plantations, nearly two weeks after a massive protest by farmers of Tumakuru district, accompanied by some Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders and religious leaders, in south-eastern Karnataka.

Their opposition to the Hemavati Express Link Canal Project — an offshoot of the Hemavati branch canal that proposes to transfer the river water to nearby Magadi taluk in the neighbouring Bengaluru South district (erstwhile Ramanagara district) — had turned violent. After an estimated 20,000 farmers from various taluks descended on the village in Gubbi taluk to protest on May 31, civil work was ordered to be halted temporarily, while massive pipes procured for the project are lying scattered at the site.

A posse of policemen attached to the Karnataka State Reserve Police is now deployed on the village outskirts. The Tumakuru police have filed 13 FIRs against over 100 people, including three Opposition legislators — G.B. Jyothi Ganesh and Suresh Gowda of the BJP and M.T. Krishnappa of the JD(S) — and seers of four religious mutts, on charges including violating prohibitory orders, damaging public property, and indulging in stone pelting. The government is now considering withdrawing the FIRs against the seers. The protesters, including the legislators, have sought a study by a recognised institute to ascertain the viability of the project.

“The government is pushing the project without consultation and technical discussion. We are not against sharing water, but oppose the project in this form,” says Govind Rao, a coconut grower in Bennuru village, about a kilometre away from Sankapura. The Hemavati branch canal passes between Bennuru and Sankapura villages, where the link canal is proposed to be started. The region is dotted with arecanut, coconut, and pomegranate plantations that are dependent on groundwater. Ragi and vegetables are grown in smaller quantities owing to the unavailability of labour and the rising cost of cultivation, farmers say.

Many villagers The Hindu spoke to had no clear picture of the project and realised its magnitude only after the contractor unloaded massive pipes near the construction site. Near Kallur village, a middle-aged woman, Siddagangaa, aired her apprehension about losing a part of her plantation to the canal work. “They are planning to take the pipelines through our farms. As it is, our holdings are small and if plants are uprooted, we are ruined,” she says.

The villagers say the government had neither issued notices nor acquired land from farmers for laying the underground pipeline, which caused further confusion. It was B.P. Chandrashekar of Bennuru who flagged the issue and went to court against the project. “They started excavating the ground to cut a trench to lay the pipes through my farm. One of the fully-grown coconut trees came crashing down. They insisted on continuing the work, and I got a permanent injunction from the Gubbi court,” he says. Following this, many others have approached the court. Chandrashekar says that after the underground pipeline is laid, farmers cannot grow either arecanut or coconut, which are the main crops in the region. “Only vegetables can be grown,” he says. For Chandrashekar, it is a déjà vu moment as he had earlier lost land for the Tumakuru branch canal and also for another canal that takes water to Gubbi.

According to B.C. Chandan, a farmer, though attempts were made to start the work in May 2024, it was stalled after farmers opposed it. “This is the second time that the work is being started,” he says.