Yettinahole: VJNL hopeful of supplying water to Tumakuru by October, and Kolar and Chikkaballapur next year

With the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) according in-principle (stage-1) approval for diversion of 111.02 hectares of forest land in Hassan and Tumakuru districts for the Yettinahole Drinking Water Project, officials of Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Limited are hopeful of supplying water from the Western Ghats to Tumakuru district by October 2026, and completing the project by October 2027, provided funds are made available.

The project aims to provide drinking water and fill the tanks in the drought-prone districts with a total population over 75 lakhs.

As per the design, 24.01 tmcft of water will be diverted during the monsoon from four streams — Yettinahole, Kadumane Hole, Keri Hole and Hongadahalla. Of this, 14.056 tmcft is earmarked for drinking water supply, while the remaining water will be used to fill 527 tanks up to 50% of their capacity.

Approved in 2012

The project was approved by the Karnataka government in July 2012 at an estimated cost of ₹8,323.5 crore. The cost was revised in February 2014 to ₹12,912.36 crore and again in January 2023 to ₹23,251.66 crore. As of the end of February 2026, the cumulative expenditure stood at ₹18,205.55 crore.

The project is being executed in two stages. The first stage, lift component, has been completed. Eight weirs were constructed to tap water from the streams. The stage that has been completed was commissioned in September 2024. In the absence of the gravity canal, the lifted water was temporarily diverted to Vani Vilas Sagar in Chitradurga district. Over the last two years, 3.283 tmcft of water has been diverted to the reservoir.

Sannachittaiah, Managing Director of VJNL, told The Hindu on Friday that in the second stage, the construction of gravity canal was going on. “Of the 252-km-long canal, work on 208 km has been completed. The work on 25 km is under progress. We could not tackle the remaining 16 km due to the forest issue. Now it has been resolved,” said the officer.

The crucial 16-km stretch passes through Belur, Arsikere taluks of Hassan and Gubbi of Tumakuru. The officials are hopeful of completing the stretch with the cooperation of other departments and flow water up to Tumakuru by October 31, 2026.

“The feeder canals of Madhugiri, Pavagada and Gowribidanur have been completed and the T.G. Halli feeder is 90% complete. We are confident of taking water to Tumakuru district by October,” the MD said. Similarly, if the government provided the remaining funds in two years, the project would be completed and people of Chikkaballapur and Kolar would get drinking water by October 2027.

Water availability

Since the start of the project, many have questioned the availability of 24.01 tmcft of water from the streams in the Western Ghats. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) also questioned the VJNL’s calculation of water availability.

The rainfall data collected from the rain gauges at the weirs in Sakaleshpur since 2017 projected average availability of 18 tmcft, which is 6 tmcft less than the designed quantity.

Mr. Sannachittaiah, however, claimed that there was no shortage of water for drinking water purposes. “This is primarily a drinking water project. Whenever there is excess availability of water, tanks will be filled up. Anyhow, there is no shortage to provide drinking water for people of 6,657 villages in 29 taluks of seven districts, besides 38 urban local bodies, covering over 75 lakh people,” said the MD.

He added that VJNL has engaged consultants to conduct a pre-feasibility study to explore additional water availability at the Netravathi and Kumaradhara river junction to make up the shortfall of 6 tmcft.