Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Apr 26: A delegation of Udupi District Raita Sangha visited the dam built across Gundur rivulet near Alur in the taluk on Tuesday April 25 to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the dam.

The project envisages construction of dam across the said rivulet at Edrubailu in Alur, and redirect the water so stored to vented dams built downstream. The Sangha wanted to know how far this project has benefitted the farmers. The delegation, which was led by its president, Pratapchandra Shetty, inspected Gundur dam, vented dam at Alur, and catchment area through which the water flows.

On the occasion, Pratapchandra Shetty held discussions with the officials of Varahi Irrigation Project. He instructed the officials to ensure that projects implemented by the government never go waste, and the farmers get water without any break. He wanted the officials to properly execute this project so that its purpose is met.

Speaking on the occasion, Raita Sangha leader, Vikas Hegde, said the Sangha has been examining the functioning of all the vented dams in the district towards ensuring that the government money spent on the project does not go waste and all the projects are efficiently implemented. The Sangha has been alerting the district administration towards this end, he added. "After a vented dam is built, its success depends on how it is managed. Construction of dam is not the main objective, but providing water to farmers is," he stressed. Local leader, Dr Atul Kumar Shetty, who felt that construction of Gundur dam is a good project, also wished that collection of water gets importance and farmers make optimum use of available water.

Raita Sangha leaders like Hariprasad Shetty, Kedur Sadanand Shetty, Vandaballi Jayaram Shetty, Uday Kumar Shetty Adikekodlu, Santosh Kumar Shetty Balady, Congress leader, Krishnadeva Karant Koni, taluk panchayat members, Uday G Poojary and Vasudeva Pai, superintending engineer of Varahi Project, Padmanabha, and assistant executive engineer, Prameet, were among those who were present on the occasion.

Before this, a meeting was convened at the travellers bungalow of forest department at Vandse. Zilla panchayuat member, Babu Shetty, taluk panchayat vice president, Praveen Kumar Shetty, former taluk panchayat president, Shankar Shetty and others were present.

The president of Raita Sangha was not willing to share his views about the outcome of this inspection. He just said that he had spoken to officials. It may be recalled that farmers of the region are unhappy that they have not been getting enough water although Gundur dam was built about three to four years back. The people want to see what will the visit of Raita Sangha do to the project.

The Gundur dam is parched now and the rivulet has stopped flowing. A little water is seen to have collected in pits here and there on the riverbed. This dam was built with the aim of providing water to villages like Alur, Noojady, Kundabarandady, Haklady etc all through the year. Many locals claim that this project has failed.