Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar speaking at a public meeting at Munirabad in Koppal district on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who also holds the Department of Water Resources portfolio, has said that all 33 crest gates at the Tungabhadra reservoir will be replaced within a year.

Addressing a public function on the Munirabad Government Primary School premises, after offering ‘bagina’ at the reservoir along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said the process of installing new gates would be initiated after consulting the other riparian States: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“Engineer Kannaiah Naidu helped us save over 20 tmcft of water by installing a temporary stop-log gate after crest gate no. 19 was damaged. It saved crops on 9 lakh acres. The whole country was looking at the dam and it was a great achievement to fix it in such a short time,” he said.

Navali reservoir

Pointing to approximately 33 tmcft of silt on the reservoir bed, Mr. Shivakumar said that a balancing reservoir would shortly be built at Navali in Koppal district to compensate for the loss of water caused by the silt at the Tungabhadra dam.

“A detailed project report is ready. About 15,000 acres of land is required for the project. We cannot utilise around 33 tmcft of water from the Tungabhadra owing to an equal amount of silt accumulated on the reservoir bed. Building a balancing reservoir at Navali is the solution for this. I will meet the Chief Ministers and Irrigation Ministers of neighbouring States soon and discuss the project,” he said.

Terming the Tungabhadra dam as a contribution of the Congress, Mr. Shivakumar said that no one can distort history.

“Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had termed dams as the temples of modern India. We had started Tunga aarti some time back, and now we have decided to start Cauvery aarti. We have formed a team and it is studying Haridwar, Kashi, and a few other places,” he said.