Karnataka's 2026 budget has again referenced the proposed Navali Balancing Reservoir to address silt issues in the Tungabhadra reservoir. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah highlighted consultations with neighboring states, yet no concrete steps have advanced the project. Farmers express frustration over repeated mentions without action.
On March 6, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented the Karnataka state budget in the Legislative Assembly, where he discussed measures to tackle the declining storage capacity of the Tungabhadra reservoir. Caused by decades of silt buildup, the reservoir near Hosapete in Vijayanagara district has lost significant volume, with estimates indicating over 30 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of silt accumulated.
The budget speech reiterated the proposal for a balancing reservoir near Navali village in Koppal district as one alternative. Siddaramaiah stated that efforts would be intensified to implement a suitable scheme in consultation with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and with the approval of the Tungabhadra Board. This board, comprising representatives from the three states and headed by a Union Government appointee, oversees the inter-state Tungabhadra system, a tributary of the Krishna river.
Farmers in Raichur, Koppal, Ballari, and Vijayanagara districts, reliant on the reservoir for irrigation, have long demanded solutions like dredging or additional storage. However, desilting the large reservoir is deemed technically challenging and costly, making the Navali project a potential long-term fix.
Despite mentions in multiple budgets over the years, the initiative lacks specific funding or timelines, remaining largely on paper. Chamarasa Malipatil, a farmers' leader from Raichur, criticized the pattern: "For the last several years, governments have been repeating the announcement about constructing the Navali Balancing Reservoir in their budget speeches. But nothing has moved on the ground. The people’s representatives of the region, cutting across party lines, should be ashamed of this. They have been using the issue only for electoral gains."
Previous Congress and BJP governments had prepared detailed project reports, but progress stalled amid inter-state complexities.