Karnataka - Mangalore   

Corporation approves proposal to draw water from Lakhya dam

MANGALORE: The Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) council has approved the proposal of drawing water from the Lakhya dam at Kudremukh to the city.

For this, the civic body will have to use the 67-km-long pipeline laid by the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) from its plant at Kudremukh to its another Panambur plant, subject to clearance by the Supreme Court. The company had laid the pipeline to transport iron ore in slurry form from Kudremukh to here.

The civic body is exploring the possibility of using this pipeline for supplying water as mining operation in Kudremukh has stopped owing to a Supreme Court order.

Mayor M. Shankar Bhat told The Hindu on Friday that the corporation had conveyed the decision of the council to the State Government by a fax message on Thursday. Although the corporation had begun its efforts to draw water from the dam eight months ago, it had not placed the proposal before the council. Minister for Ports, Inland Water Transport, Environment, and Ecology J. Krishna Palemar had discussed the proposal in a meeting with the officials of KIOCL and the corporation in Bangalore on October 23, 2008. Subsequently, a team of personnel from the civic body, headed by former Mayor Ganesh Hosabettu, had visited the dam on November 4, 2008, he said.

Mr. Bhat said that although the council had approved the proposal, it could pass a resolution to this effect in its next meeting to be held later this month. The corporation could take up the matter with the Government “officially” only after a month. However, the decision of the council was conveyed to the Government by fax as the latter wanted to know the decision quickly for filing an appeal before the Supreme Court.

Mr. Bhat said that a case was pending before the apex court over the utilising of water from the dam and hence the corporation had to seek permission of the court to supply water.

The Secretary of the State Department of Forests, Environment and Ecology, in a letter to the corporation on April 6, had asked the corporation to go ahead with the proposal only after obtaining permission from the Supreme Court. He had also suggested that it was better to ascertain whether the water in the dam was fit for consumption and then come to an understanding with the KIOCL for supplying water from the dam.

Mr. Bhat said that if the civic body succeeded in signing an agreement with KIOCL in this regard, water in the dam could be treated at its treatment plant at Panambur and supplied to the people.

The Mayor said that the corporation might be able to draw eight MGD (million gallons a day) water from the dam. But, sources in the KIOCL told The Hindu that the corporation would be able to pump only four MGD of water as the water level in the Lakhya stream (for which a 100-m high dam has been built) used to come down drastically during summer.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sea erosion assuming dangerous proportions in Dakshina Kannada
Passengers disappointed over extension of train
10.82 p.c. growth in NMPT cargo handling
Corporation approves proposal to draw water from Lakhya dam

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu