New Delhi: It’s been five days since the gate number 19 of Tungabhadra dam washed out and created panic in two states, both for water shortage and flood alert. Now, the questions are being raised as whether it was a case of accident or an instance of sheer negligence of the part of concerned authorities.
What actually went wrong?
The 19th crest gate of the 71-year-old Tungabhadra reservoir was washed away last Saturday night at Karnataka’s Hospet after its chain broke away causing a huge gush of water to enter the Sunkesula barrage in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.
Now as per the protocol, the Crest gate, chains should be changed every fifty years so as to avoid any breakage to the gates. However, the gates of Tungabhadra dam were not changed for the last 70 years.
Gates and chains installed during construction 70 years back
The gates and chains installed in the dam dates back to its construction clearly indicating that the dam’s upkeep was in a very poor shape and no government cared to maintain the reservoir.
The Tungabhadra Dam Board doesn’t care to advise the gate change. Even, irrigation experts also ignored the advice of TB Dam Board for the maintenance.
At present, only one gate washed away which averted a major disaster. But if more gates collapses in absence of maintenance, a big disaster is waiting to happen.
What is the water level of Tungabhadra Reservoir today
As of today, 84.304 TMC of water is stored in the dam. The reservoir has a total water storage capacity of 105.788 thousand million cubic feet (TMC).
In the last three days, 21 TMC of water is emptied due to repair work. The dam has an inflow of 32 thousand cusecs of water, while the dam has an outflow of 1.10 lakh cusecs of water into the river.