There is a need for a clear policy on removing silt accumulated at vented dams: Dinesh Gundu Rao

Dakshina Kannada district administration seeks clear policy on silt removal and maintenance of vented dams from State Government.

The Dakshina Kannada district administration will write to the State Government seeking a clear policy on removal of silt at the vented dams and maintenance of vented dams, said Dinesh Gundu Rao, Minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada, during the Karnataka Development Plan meeting in Mangaluru on Friday, January 12.

During the discussion on how the district administration was handling the impending drought situation in the district, an official from the Department of Minor Irrigation said there were 447 vented dams in Dakshina Kannada. Measures have been taken to place wooden logs at 80% of these dams for storing water.

Harish Poonja, Belthangady MLA, said because of the absence of funds, the Minor Irrigation department was not placing the logs and instead, it was being done by residents at their own cost. There is no policy for extraction of silt accumulated at these dams and there was no mechanism for maintenance of vented dams, he said.

Pratapsimha Nayak, MLC, said as many as 60 vented dams in the district are newly constructed. He expressed the need for a study on the usage of the water. Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer K. Anandh said there are water user committees in each gram panchayat. If the State government permits, these committees can maintain vented dams.

Deputy Commissioner M.P. Mullai Muhilan said recent rains across the district have provided great relief and there is no water problem. Four detailed meetings have been held in which plans were formulated to store additional water in about 600 small dams. Mr. Poonja expressed the need for an additional grant from the State government to dig additional bore wells from February, when the water crisis will start in the district.

When a former member of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat pointed to the poor execution of the Jal Jeevan Mission of providing piped water connection to households, Mr. Rao said he would carry out surprise visits during his next visit and take action against officials concerned. As much as ₹300 crore have been spent for the project so far, he said and sought from officials an outcome analysis report about water connections that have been provided.

Mr. Rao said new agencies will be running the dialysis centres in the government health facilities. The Government is giving these centres single-use dialysis machines, which prevents cross-infection. “For various reasons the dialysis centres failed to work earlier. We are setting right working of these centres,” he said.