River Manjra has breached the mud embankment on the side wall of the barrage, built to supply drinking water to Bidar, draining out large amounts of water into the north side of the city.
Farmers say that they suspected a breach three weeks ago and alerted about it to the officials, but no one turned up to inspect. Lack of maintenance of the structure in the last few years might have caused the breach, the farmers say.
Following the breach, fields on the northern side are flooded and crops have been damaged. Moreover, the barrage has far less water that it should hold, said Vishwanath Patil Koutha, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president. Some officials inspected the breach on Saturday, he added.
The barrage, which is not in use now, was built 14 years ago, to impound 0.27 tmcft of water from the Manjra river. It was used to fill a cistern of 18 million gallons per day capacity and supplied to the city. Pipelines were laid for 12 kilometres from Janawada to the high capacity overhead tank near the fire station. However, this system was found inefficient as half the water evaporated before it reached the barrage from the Karanja reservoir.
In 2013, the State government approved the 24X7 water supply project to the city by laying a 20 kilometre pipeline directly from the reservoir. Work is almost complete and filtered water is being supplied to some parts of the city on a pilot basis. There is confusion about maintain the Manjra barrage that is no longer in use.
The Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board (KUWSB), which operated the barrage until 2014, claims it has handed over the responsibility to the City Municipal Council. But the CMC officials say the KUWSSB is responsible for the barrage's maintenance and bulk water supply and that they are only responsible for door to door water supply and subsequent billing.
Farmers feel that the government should repair the barrage and turn it into an irrigation project if its utility as a drinking water supply project has ended. “This way, the government could utilise existing structures at minimal expenditure,” Mr. Koutha said.
Recollecting the drought situation during the 2015 and 2016 summer, Former Minister Bandeppa Kashempur noted that the officials concerned should not forget it and that the government should realize that the Manjra barrage, which needs immediate attention, could be their saviour in such situations.
Former MLA Prakash Khandre blamed the political leaders for remaining blind to the situation.
District in-charge Minister Eshwar Khandre said that he will instruct officials concerned to take up the repair work of the structure immediately.
