Around 40 members of five families, including children and the elderly, narrowly escaped a tragedy early on Wednesday morning.
Five houses, including one belonging to Vinod Shivaji Koldigouda, president of Muchandi Gram Panchayat, were damaged when a main pipeline (four feet in diameter) supplying drinking water from Hidkal Dam burst. The dam is across the Ghataprabha River at Hukkeri taluk and is maintained by the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board.
It was around 2 a.m. when the pipe about 15 feet away from Mr. Koldigouda's house burst. The sound woke him up but even before he could act, water gushed into his house. He and his family members were safe as they were sleeping in a room with concrete slabs, but the rest of the tiles structure of his house was swept away. Four other houses in the neighbourhood were also damaged. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, though the locality was flooded.
The force of the water gushing from the pipe was so intense that kitchenware and other articles were swept away into a water tank situated about 60 meters away.
Mr. Koldigouda immediately informed the Hidkal Dam office about the mishap, the water flow into the pipeline was stopped in about half an hour.
Later, Assistant Commissioner rushed to the village and inspected the damages and said an inquiry would be held.
Board’s executive engineer N. Prasanna Murthy told The Hindu that around one million gallons of water had drained out due to the burst. He denied that it was due to negligence. “The pipeline was laid 16 years ago and such bursts have occurred at least five times over the past five years,” he said and added that the damage to the properties was a matter of concern.
He said the burst could be due to a split at one of the welding points. The technical workers had been already pressed into service to repair the damaged pipeline. Water supply would be restored in a day’s time, he added. An interim relief of Rs.10,000 would be given to each of the affected families. Higher authorities would be urged to release compensation, he added.
Vivek Gurav, development officer of Muchandi Gram Panchayat, said the officials were assessing the damage to the houses. According to preliminary estimates, the damage is around Rs. 50 lakh. Meanwhile, the affected families would be houses in a school and a community hall.
