Chief minister D K Shivakumar said on Thursday that Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had reached a consensus to protect the interests of farmers in the Tungabhadra river basin, as the state inaugurated 33 newly replaced spillway gates at the Tungabhadra reservoir.
<figure class="art
Speaking at a public function at the Government High School grounds in Munirabad, Shivakumar said discussions among the three states had centred on securing irrigation for farming communities and preserving water in the reservoir.
“We discussed how to safeguard and protect farming families, including the appeal submitted by farmer leaders regarding saving the 33 TMC of water in this dam. After lengthy discussion on all the options, including the Navali parallel reservoir and the matter of desilting, we have all arrived at a consensus opinion,” said the CM.
“This decision will be announced by the Union Jal Shakti minister himself. The discussion we held today over the course of an hour will go down in history in the country’s irrigation and federal systems. Under the spirit of ‘Our Water, Our Right,’ we have taken a historic decision to protect the farmers of three states,” he added. Shivakumar said the agreement was reached by the chief ministers of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under Union Jal Shakti minister CR Patil.
“The Tungabhadra dam has been protected. Today, under the leadership of CR Patil, the chief ministers of three states have made history. Our goal is to create it rather than merely read and recall it. I keep saying that coming together is a beginning, discussing together is progress, and working together is success. The chief ministers of three states came together and protected all three states,” he said.
Shivakumar also recalled the collapse of the reservoir’s 19th spillway gate last year, saying he was alerted around midnight.
“When the 19th gate broke off, the district in charge minister Shivaraj Tangadagi and officials called me at midnight, expressing alarm that the dam was shaking. I visited the site at 8 am the next morning. We immediately consulted experts on what needed to be done, and the gate was replaced within a week. Through this, the farmers of this region were protected,” he said. He said the government subsequently decided to replace all 33 gates.
“When the gate broke off, the Opposition levelled criticism. Our government decided to replace the 33 gates, and God has given us the opportunity to protect the farmers of these three states. Back then I was the irrigation minister. Today I am the chief minister. Even so, I remain your servant and your kinsman,” he said.
The inauguration came a day after former chief minister Siddaramaiah said the decision to replace all 33 gates had been taken during his government after experts concluded that emergency repairs to a damaged gate would not provide a lasting solution.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the gate replacement project originated during his tenure after the failure of the 19th crest gate in December last year.
“Understanding the anxiety of farmers, I immediately instructed the officials of the concerned department and the district in charge minister to install a replacement gate as quickly as possible to prevent water from being wasted. Within just six days, a new gate was installed, preventing the reservoir’s water from flowing away and easing the farmers’ concerns,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said his government regarded the emergency repair as only a temporary measure and sought an expert assessment of the remaining gates. He said the replacement of the gates, completed at a cost of about ₹51 crore, had been finished before this year’s monsoon and thanked the Irrigation Department officials, technical experts, the company that carried out the work and ministers for completing the project.
“The successful completion and inauguration of the new gates gives me a deep sense of fulfilment. I sincerely wish the inauguration event every success,” he said.
