The Tungabhadra dam site at Hosapete has been seeing about 80 tractors and four earthmovers continuously dredging silt since mid-May. It is not work undertaken by the government, but a novel agitation by farmers to draw the government’s attention to how silt accumulation has severely hit the holding capacity of the dam, and as a result, their agricultural activity as well.
Farmers in the Tungabhadra command area in the districts of Ballari, Koppal and Raichur, worried over silting of the dam and reduced storage capacity, have taken up dredging at the dam site as a symbolic protest. They have for years been demanding that government initiate measures to either dredge the dam or come up with alternatives. Farmers have also taken up dredging on the left bank of the river at Munirabad in Koppal district.
Till the onset of monsoon
About 4,100 cubic metre of silt — equal to 0.000144 tmcft — has been removed by the farmers so far and dumped in agricultural lands at various villages surrounding the reservoir. The agitation is expected to go on till the onset of monsoon in the catchment area.
Dredging of the 65-year-old reservoir has lots of logistic problems, ranging from exorbitant costs to finding the space to dump the silt removed. Construction of a balancing reservoir to store water during the rainy season was another proposal made, but is not being considered seriously by the government.
While the original capacity of the dam was 133 tmcft, it has come down to less than 100 tmcft now. “We are aware that dredging cannot be done manually. Our attempt is to draw the attention of the government to the fact that reduced capacity of the dam has affected us,” Darur Purushotam Gouda, president of the district unit of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene, told The Hindu .
K. Govindulu, retired superintendent engineer (Irrigation), is of the view that the ongoing movement is an eye-opener for both the governments of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. “Now the governments should swing into action without further delay,” he said.
V.P. Uddihal, retired chief engineer of Tungabhadra Board, said, “Accumulation of silt is a natural phenomenon. Around 0.5 tmcft of silt is anticipated to accumulate every year. Steps need to be taken to remove the 0.5 tmcft of silt every year from now on to ensure that the present storage capacity of the dam is retained,” said.
