Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have reached a consensus to protect the interests of farmers in the Tungabhadra river basin, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Thursday, as the state inaugurated 33 newly replaced spillway gates in the Tungabhadra reservoir.
Addressing a public function held at the Government Secondary School grounds in Munirabad, Shivakumar said that discussions between the three states focused on ensuring irrigation for farming communities and conserving water in the reservoir.
“We discussed how to safeguard and protect the farming families, including the appeal made by farmer leaders on providing 33 TMC of water in this dam. After a lengthy discussion on all options, including the parallel Navali reservoir and the issue of desilting, we all arrived at a consensus opinion,” the Prime Minister said.
“Union Minister Jal Shakti himself will announce this decision. The hour-long discussion we had today will go down in history in the country’s irrigation and federal systems. In the spirit of ‘Our Water, Our Right’, we have taken a historic decision to protect farmers in three states,” he added. Shivakumar said the agreement was reached by the chief ministers of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under the leadership of Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patel.
“The Tungabhadra Dam has been protected. Today, under the leadership of CR Patel, the chief ministers of three states have made history. Our goal is to create it rather than just read it and restore it. I keep saying coming together is the beginning, discussing together is progress, working together is success. The chief ministers of the three states have come together and protected the three states,” he said.
Shivakumar also pointed out the collapse of the reservoir’s spillway gate No. 19 last year, saying he was alerted around midnight.
“When the 19th gate broke, district in-charge minister Shivaraj Tangadaji called me and officials at midnight, expressing their concern that the dam was shaking. I visited the site at 8 am the next day. We immediately consulted experts on what to do, and the gate was replaced within a week. Through this, farmers in this area were protected,” he said. He said the government then decided to replace all 33 gates.
“When the gate broke, the opposition criticized. Our government decided to replace the 33 gates, and God has given us the opportunity to protect farmers in these three states. At that time I was the irrigation minister. Today I am the chief minister. However, I remain your servant and relative,” he said.
The inauguration came a day after former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the decision to replace all 33 gates was taken during his government after experts concluded that emergency repairs to the damaged gate would not provide a permanent solution.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the gate replacement project arose during his tenure after the failure of the 19th summit gate in December last year.
“Realizing the farmers’ concern, I immediately instructed the relevant department officials and the district minister in charge to install a replacement gate as soon as possible to prevent water wastage. Within just six days, a new gate was installed, preventing the tank water from flowing away and alleviating the farmers’ concerns,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said his government considered the emergency repair only a temporary measure and had requested expert evaluation of the remaining gates. He said the replacement of the gates was completed at a cost of approx $51 crore project was completed before the monsoon this year and he thanked the irrigation department officials, technical experts, the company that carried out the work and the ministers for completing the project.
He said: “The successful completion and opening of the new gates gives me a deep sense of accomplishment. I sincerely wish every success for the opening event.”
