Cracks on walls, road leave villagers worried

Two walls of the house, belonging to a Mahadevaswamy, developed cracks on Monday.

Panic gripped residents of Chikkabagalu, a village in Malavalli taluk of the district, on Tuesday following the appearance of cracks on a road and the walls of a house.

Two walls of the house, belonging to a Mahadevaswamy, developed cracks on Monday morning. Later, the villagers noticed a small crack on a nearby road. This sparked off anxiety over a possible earthquake. On Tuesday, the anxiety heightened following an earthquake in Uttarakhand. Senior officials from the Revenue, Police and Mines and Geology departments were summoned to inspect the cracks.

A study was conducted on Tuesday afternoon and the experts ruled out the impact of any triggers/movements in the earth in the village. Nagabhushan, geologist, Department of Mines and Geology, Mandya, told

The Hindu that there was no need for villagers to panic as the cracks were caused by a water pipeline leakage. The top layer of the soil had got adjusted in the area following the leakage and this caused a little sink in the land. Consequently, the walls of the nearby building also developed cracks.

Mr. Nagabhushan added that no signs of earthquake or tremors were reported at the seismic centre established near the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir. “We have also asked the Department of Public Works to study and submit a report regarding the development of cracks on the road,” said Dineshchandra, tahsildar of Malavalli.

Meanwhile, the worried villagers have demanded thorough tests to ascertain the reason for the cracks.