Tungabhadra Dam’s Gate Washed Away; Flood Alert Issued

Hosapete, Anantapur: A spillway gate of the Tungabhadra dam was washed away on Saturday night, causing panic in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Sixty tmc ft of water will now have be discharged from the dam to fix a new gate, according to a senior engineer from the dam.

While a flood warning was issued, parts of Hampi and Raichur in Karnataka were flooded. The historic Sri Ragavendra Teerthara Brundavana temple in Bichale was inundated.

The secretary of Tungabhadra Dam Board (TB) said that 10 spillway gates were operated on Saturday. “At 10.50 pm, spillway Gate No. 19 was washed away from the groove of the spillway.” He said the incident reported to senior officials and disaster management authorities alerted in Ballari, Vijayanagar, Raichur, Koppal (in Karnataka) and Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) districts.

The gate broke after its gate-link chain came apart, leading to water flow of 35,000 cusecs (one cubic foot per second) from that gate. To maintain the dam's safety, 1 lakh cusecs was being discharged from seven more gates.

"Action is being taken to fabricate a new stop-log gate in consultation with gate works expert Kannaiah Naidu, who also submitted the design and drawings of stop-log gate elements," the TB Board secretary added.

AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has directed Irrigation Minister Nimmala Rama Naidu and Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav to monitor restoration works of the inter-state project.

Retired engineers and irrigation experts from AP have been asked to assist the Tungabhadra Board.

Minister Keshav told Deccan Chronicle that the AP government was initiating budgetary allocation to restore normalcy. “Two expert contractors were engaged to rectify the situation on a warfooting to avoid wastage of water”, he said.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Rayadurg MLA Kalava Srinivasulu met dam authorities and engineers.

Due to floods in the upstream Western Ghats of the Krishna basin, the TB dam was maintained at 100 tmc ft for the past one week, the highest in 10 years. The TB dam authorities were regularly releasing water into the High Level Main Canal, Low-Level Canal connected to channel going to Andhra Pradesh. Even hydel power units were operational.

Officials said comprehensive maintenance work had been undertaken on the dam's gates in May. The gates were tested and confirmed to be in proper working condition.