No threat to Vani Vilas Sagar Dam, say experts

Chitradurga/ Davanagere: Headed by retired superintendent engineer, SP Koyimattur, a team of safety engineers, along with director of Karnataka Engineering Research Station (KERS), Mahesh, and chief engineer of Dam Safety Organisation, Apsar, and Central Water Power Research Station, Pune, Kamalashekharan, on Friday inspected the Vani Vilas Sagar Dam, and the surrounding areas that were submerged following excess rain in Chitradurga. They tested the dam for seepage at the base of the structure. However, allaying concerns of such seepage posing any danger, the experts said that this was a common phenomenon, a regular occurrence when the dam recorded excessive rain.
SP Koyimattur said, “There is no need to be worried. The dam is stable, and there is no threat to its structural stability. As long as the inflow is below 35,000 cusecs, there is no cause for concern. Should it rise above that, we will inspect the structure again, and recommend alternative measures.” However, Vani Vilas Sagar Dam executive engineer, Chandramouli R said, “The inflow to the dam on Friday was only 15,000 cusecs.”
Meanwhile, in a sign of the rain-hit villages across the district returning to normalcy, the 22 shepherds who were marooned far from home after they took their respective herds to graze at a hillock three days ago, unable to return home to Hosathimmappanatti were supplied with provisions for a month, along with sheets of tarpaulin on Friday. They were stranded after the backwaters of the Vani Vilas Sagar Dam surged. Hosadurga MLA Gulihatti Shekhar and tahsildar Mallikarjun M, confirmed that everything was being done to ensure the shepherds received essential commodities.
Meanwhile, groundnut crop in eight villages in Devasandra hobli in Molakalmuru taluk, have been blighted by ‘beru kole roga’, a wilting disease owing to excessive rainfall. Rangappa, a farmer in Kanakuppe, said that incessant rainfall had left them without any yield.
Ancient lake overflows; villages flooded
Overflowing waters from Sulekere, an ancient lake in Channagiri taluk in Davanagere district, have inundated 18 villages, including Rudrapura, Kalattur. The surging waters have inundated roads of Kabbala, Chiradoni, Doddagatta, Basavapatna villages, confirmed Channagiri tahsildar, Puttaraja Gowda. “We set up a care centre a week ago, where 26 families are being provided food and shelter,” he said.
Another ancient tank in Ananji village in Jagalur taluk, Davanagere district, too is overflowing, resulting in a flood in the villages in the lake’s vicinity.