The issue of vented dams figured in the general body meeting of the Udupi Zilla Panchayat here on Wednesday. Raising the issue, Sudhakar Shetty, member, said that though a vented dam was constructed at Kokkarne village four years ago at a cost of ₹ 1.75 crore, it was leaking since last year. When the officer of the Minor Irrigation Department said that the department had taken action against the contractor who had carried out the work, Pratap Hegde, another member, said that it was not enough; action should be taken against the engineers who designed such faulty vented dams.
The officer said that the repair work to plug the leak in the vented dam had started and it would be completed in a fortnight. Shankar Poojary, member, said that even the spot selected for construction of a vented dam-cum-bridge at Yelajit was wrong.
When the officer said that a 2.5-km canal would be constructed from the vented dam, Mr. Poojary said that at the present spot, the dam could not irrigate more than an acre of land.
Instead, if it were constructed at Gaswel, it would irrigate at least 100 acres of land. There was a need for a vented dam at Bijoor as it would benefit farmers of three villages, he said. Intervening, Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis said that the Executive Engineer of Minor Irrigation Department should visit the spot at Yelajit and submit a report.
Babu Shetty, member, said that though a vented dam was being constructed at Siddapura, the gram panchayat had no information about it. Ms. Francis directed the department officers to provide estimates of all works in any gram panchayat to the offices of the gram panchayats concerned.
The meeting was told that about 220 vented dams were yet to have proper gates and efforts were being made to get funds from the government for their installation.
Sumeet Shetty, member, said that some drug peddlers were selling ganja near high schools and colleges in the district. The Police Department should take stern action against drug peddlers. If this menace was not tackled immediately, students were in danger of getting addicted to it, he said.
N. Vishnuvardhana, Additional Superintendent of Police, said that the police was taking stern action. If any of the members had any details, they could provide it to the police and action would be taken against drug peddlers, he said.
Dinakar Babu, president of the Zilla Panchayat, was present.
