Yogesh K Porwar & Sunil Lohan
P
robe Be Conducted,relief be given to farmers: Bommai
Vijayanagar (Munirabad):Former Chief Minister and MP Basavaraj Bommai said that due to the recent water leakage caused by the chain-cutting of the crest gate at the Tungabhadra Dam,this is an opportune time for the state government to initiate the construction of a parallel reservoir to the Tungabhadra Dam.
He inspected the dam today along with BJP State President B.Y.Vijayendra and Opposition Leader in the Legislative Assembly R.Ashoka .
Later,he told reporters that this incident provides a strong reason and the right time to start the construction of a parallel reservoir to the Tungabhadra Dam.The Detailed Project Report (DPR) has already been prepared and shared with the Andhra Pradesh government. Discussions were held with the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, and a technical team was sent by them.
Technical approval has been granted, and only a political decision is pending. The state Congress government has not taken any action on this matter for the past one and a half years.
The current Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should engage in talks with the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments to move forward with the construction of the parallel reservoir. This would save 28 TMC of water.
He said Tungabhadra is the lifeline of Kalyana Karnataka, contributing over 40 per cent of Karnataka’s total agricultural income from the Tungabhadra Dam region.
Three states share its benefits, and paddy is cultivated in about 20 lakh hectares of land. The dam is facing challenges due to silt accumulation, leading to the loss of approximately 30 TMC of water storage capacity.
Today’s incident is alarming and should be taken seriously by the government. Officials claim that they will fabricate the gate, but the issue is not that simple. Excessive water flow caused the overload and subsequent accident.
There are two major issues: pre-monsoon maintenance and the critical importance of ensuring there are no leakages when operating the vertical gate. Even if one bearing fails, the gate can come off.
The link that was supposed to provide connectivity to the gate failed, and this cannot be dismissed as a trivial matter. If the officials and government are not responsible, then who is?Why did this happen now, after so many years?
The Tungabhadra Board is responsible for water management, including deciding how much water to release and how much to retain.
The dam gates are divided; gates 0-16 belong to Andhra, while the rest belong to Karnataka. Gate 19 falls under Karnataka’s jurisdiction, making the responsibility of Karnataka’s engineers even greater. They did not maintain the gates properly.
All gates need to be inspected. The current water level is low, but if it increases, we don’t know what problems might arise. New standards for water management must be established, and an investigation should be conducted to find out where the failure occurred.
Bommai said the government claims they will fix it in three or four days, but the problem arose when the gate was intact, and they don’t know what might happen after fabricating it.They have advised caution. Another issue is water conservation.
The idea of maintaining water flow while fabricating the gate and reassembling it is natural, but every precaution must be taken.
The fabrication must be carefully lowered and reattached, requiring a crane system. A counterweight in the lift system is necessary.
All this must be done cautiously. They have mentioned using a cane system. When a similar issue occurred with the KRS, they had to install 16 gates, which did not break but leaked.
The same Narayana company handled the repairs at the time. In 2005, when Kharge was the irrigation minister, the Narayana company was installing the Narayanpur Dam gate, which was repaired with their help.
Form expert panel
He said there needs to be a proper investigation into the failure of water management.The recommendations given by the Dam Safety Management Committee have not been followed.
The World Bank provides funds for dam maintenance. These funds must be fully utilized to inspect all gates and replace those that need it.
Most of the state’s dams are over fifty years old, and many do not have stop-plug gates. Steps must be taken to install stop-plug gates.
Additionally, a special expert committee on dam safety should be formed, similar to the central government’s model, to provide information on dam safety. They should all work together on this, he added.
Compensate farmers
“I do not agree with the statement by Deputy CM and Water Resources Minister D.K.Shivakumar that no one is responsible for this incident.
There was a failure, and an investigation must be conducted to find out who is responsible. Only then will people trust the government.
We need 115 TMC of water, but 20 TMC has already been wasted. We expect about 40 TMC of water from the upcoming rains, but that depends on nature.
Given the current situation, it will be difficult to cultivate a second crop, and the state government should immediately provide compensation of Rs. 50,000 per hectare to farmers.
During floods, we provided Rs.13,500 per hectare for irrigation crops. Now, the state government should assess the damage and provide compensation of Rs. 50,000 per hectare”, the former CM said,Opposition Leader R.Ashoka was present.
