the sale of more than 5,000 hectares (ha) of land in the command areas of northern Karnataka in a span of just three years has made the state government sit up in alarm. It swung into action on June 6 notifying the Karnataka Irrigation (Amendment) Ordinance. The regulation bans the sale, lease, mortgage or exchange of land in the command areas for 10 years without the prior permission of irrigation officers.

It was found that farmers in Karnataka were selling off land to their counterparts in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh (ap). "This was not distress sale,' reveals an official of the state irrigation department, adding: "We spent more than Rs 5,000 crore on the completion of the first phase of the Upper Krishna Project (ukp). Ironically, when water started flowing into the command areas, our farmers started selling land.'

Currently, the ukp involves utilisation of 119 thousand million cubic feet of water to irrigate 4.25 lakh ha on the left bank of the river. This will benefit the northern Karnataka districts of Gulbarga, Raichur, Bagalkote and Bijapur. Significantly, one-third of the total command area of 14,000 ha in Shahpur Branch Canal