“Where there is a will, there is a way”, goes the adage. It has come true in case of farmers of Krishna belt in Bagalkot district. The farmers in Jamkhandi taluk, suffering huge losses due to the shortage of water to the sugarcane crop, have come together and completed within a fortnight a huge project of lifting 1 TMCFT of water from downstream backwaters of the Almatti dam to upstream on River Krishna and storing it in Chikkapadasalagi barrage for summer.

Without waiting for the government, the farmers under the banner of ‘Krishna Teera Raitha Sangha’ mobilised funds, labour and material on their own and completed the task they had taken up as a challenge.

The AP High Court on Monday directed the state government to file a status report on the quantity of the Krishna water required to cater to the drinking water needs of the people of Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Nalgonda, Guntur and Prakas-am districts. The court said it had no concern with politics, only with equal distribution of water to all the regions of the state.

A Division Bench, comprising acting Chief Jus-tice P.C. Ghose and Just-ice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar, was dealing with petitions seeking a direction to the state government to not release water from Nagarjunasagar to the Krishna Delta if the water level in the reservoir was below 510 feet. D. Prakash Reddy, senior counsel arguing for the petitioners, brought to the notice of the court that the water levels at Srisailam and Nagarju-nasagar reservoirs may not be sufficient to fulfill drinking water needs till June 30, 2012.

Experts feel common infrastructure practical solution as defence min forbids construction of permanent structures
RAJEEV JAYASWAL NEW DELHI

The Andhra Pradesh State Cabinet has approved a new land policy framework which seeks to remove arbitrary allotment of land for industries.

Desperate to reverse the falling output at its KG-D6 block, Reliance Industries (RIL) has proposed to drill the first exploration well in almost five years in the flagging gas fields at its own cos

Panel Gives Conditional Approval For D6 Block, Gas Output Set To Rise

M.B. Patil, MLA representing Babaleshwar, has accused the State government of deceiving the people of Bijapur and Bagalkot districts because it had earmarked only Rs. 1,200 crore for nine irrigation projects in phase 3 of the Upper Krishna Project (UKP) as against its promise of Rs. 3,600 crore.

Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, Mr. Patil said that of the Rs. 1,200 crore allocated for nine irrigation projects in phase 3 of the Upper Krishna Project, Rs. 342 crore has been earmarked for the long-standing Mulwad lift irrigation project which is one of the most significant projects that contemplates irrigation to Basavana Bagewadi taluk of Bijapur district and Jamakhandi taluk of Bagalkot district.“

It will have guiding principles on laws States may adopt

In a move that will have far-reaching implications, the Centre has decided to frame a new National Water Framework Act with guiding principles on water laws the States may adopt. States that adopt and reform will be incentivised for water projects. That such a law would be made is buried in the pages of the draft new national water policy, which is yet to be considered by the National Water Council, the supreme policy body chaired by Prime Minister and with Chief Ministers as members.

While the authorities do not hesitate to take action against the common man if he defaults on his monthly water bills, various government departments together owe a whopping Rs 146.38 crore to the