The Visvesvaraya Canal breached at Nuggahalli–Kurahatti in Pandavapura tauk of Mandya on Friday.
Cauvery waters gushed out of the breach and inundated several hundreds of acres of farmland in the nearby areas and damaged crops in large tracts of land, said Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (CNNL) officials.
“Farmers noticed the breach in the morning and alerted the CNNL. We sent a team to the spot to inspect the canal. As a precautionary measure, we have reduced the water flow in the canal,” Irrigation Department officials said.
According to farmers in the region, substandard concrete work on the canal lining was the reason for the breach. The Irrigation Department has been releasing water in the canal from the past few days. But, inspection of the concrete lining work and the canal was not done before releasing the water, they said.
The CNNL has taken up the work on repairing the breach, officials said.
While people around the canal now face the problem of plenty of water, till recently they were struggling owing to lack of water. It was only recently that water was released in the canal from the Krishnaraja Sagar.
