Bedti-Varada Link
Bedti-Varada Link proposal envisages diversion of 242 Mcum of surplus waters of Bedti basin to water short Tungabhadra sub-basin, to be utilized under Tungabhadra Project Command. The irrigation that proposed under the link canal is 60,200 hectares in the drought prone Raichur district of Karnataka. Two powerhouses with an installed capacity 1.8 MW each are also proposed. The requirement of power for lifting the water has been estimated to be 61.10 MW for a total lift of 123.70 m. in three stages.
The head works of this project consists of two dams viz. Pattanadahalla dam on Pattanadahalla stream and Shalamalahalla dam on Shalamalahalla stream and interlinking systems between these two reservoirs. The proposed FRL of the Pattanadahalla dam is at 512.75 m and that of Shalamalahalla dam at 480.4 m. The live storage and dead storage capacities of these two dams are fixed at 13.00 Mcum and 5 Mcum and 72.50 Mcum and 7.5 Mcum respectively. The conveyance system of the link canal has been sub-divided into two main components viz. interlinking of Pattanadahalla and Shalamalahalla reservoirs and interlinking of the canal/tunnel from Shalamalahalla reservoir to a tributary of Varada river. The interlinking of the first component is about 8.5 km long including 2.2 km long tunnel. The second component is about 14.83 km long including 6.8 km long tunnel. The canal takes off from the Shalamalahalla reservoir at FSL 520.3 m after an initial lift of 57.8 m and outfalls into a stream leading to Varada river at FSL 565.0 m with additional lift of 65.90 m in two stages of 25.78 m and 40.12 m.
In this link, about 1,005 ha of area in north Kanara district would come under submergence of which 787 ha is forest land, 130 ha cultivable land and 88 ha under non-agricultural use. Provision for compensatory afforestation on account of submergence of forest land has been made. No important historical monuments and archaeological structures will be coming under submergence. Due to construction of the two proposed dams, one village with a population of 967 will come under submergence.
