CM visits TB dam, says there is no problem for cultivating crops in command area
Quoting an estimation made by the Tungabhadra Board as saying on Monday, he adds that it will take five days to fix the temporary stop log gate
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah taking stock of the situation at Tungabhadra Reservoir in Hosapete of Vijayanagara district on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: SRIDHAR KAVALI
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said that there is no problem in providing enough water for cultivation, allaying fears of farmers in the Tungabhadra command area in Koppal, Raichur, Ballari and Vijayanagara districts who are worried in view of a crest gate of the dam getting washed away late on Saturday.
This has resulted in the loss of a large quantum of water.
Speaking to reporters near the dam on Tuesday, after inspecting crest gate No 19 that was washed away after its chain link was broken late on Saturday, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that there will be no scarcity of water for irrigation in the command area considering the weather forecast for the next couple of months.
“The current inflow into the dam is 25,500 cusecs. The outflow from the dam, including through the damaged gate, is 1.20 lakh cusecs. At present, the water level stands at 1,629 ft with 90 tmcft of water against a full reservoir level of 1,633 ft with a capacity to hold 105.788 tmcft of water. As much as 25 tmcft of water is used so far,” he said
He added that it will take five days to fix the temporary stop log gate as per the estimation made by the Tungabhadra Board on Monday.
The water level will have to be reduced to 1,621 ft with storage of 64.16 tmcft to start repair work.
“But farmers in the command area need not worry. As per weather forecast, we are expecting 90 tmcft of water into the reservoir – 39 tmcft in August, 30 tmcft in September, 16 tmcft in October and 4 tmcft of water in November this year,” the Chief Minister said.
“The Tungabhadra project irrigates 9,26,000 acres of land in Karnataka (two crops), 6,25,000 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh and 87,000 acres of land in Telangana. Even if the water level is reduced to 1,621 ft, we can still have 64 tmcft of water. As estimated from the weather forecast, we will get another 90 tmcft of water from rainfall in the next few months. So, there will be no problem for providing enough water to 10 lakh acres for the kharif season,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
On repair work, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that engineers are working round the clock to fix the problem.
“The engineers have obtained the design and drawings of the damaged crest gate from Kannaiah Naidu, a crest gate expert in Hyderabad, and are working on installing a stop log gate into the damaged portion. The idea is to bring down the water level to 1,625 ft and try to fix the problem. If that doesn’t work, the water level will have to be reduced to 1,621 ft to fix the gate,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
“I am hopeful that the reservoir will again be full [after the repair of the damaged crest gate]. I myself will come here to offer Bagina,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
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