With monsoon just around the corner, repair works are being carried out in the KRP dam’s two main canals, raising concern among farmers of a possible delay in feeding the tanks as and when the inflow into KRP dam increases.
The Krishnagiri reservoir’s Left Main Canal (LMC) and the Right Main Canal (RMC) are undergoing repair works under the Irrigation for Agricultural Modernisation and Water Resource Management project funded by the World Bank. The project envisions modernisation of irrigation infrastructure.
According to a PWD official source, the canal lining works are undertaken now. “There are other sluice repair works in the tanks, which will be taken up. But the canal lining of these two main canals is the main work, which will be completed soon.”
However, the timing of the works and the alleged slow progress have raised concern among the farmers.
The LMC and the RMC feed over 61 tanks in the KRP dam’s watershed area. As the monsoon poised for any time soon, the repair works in the two main are viewed to be ill conceived.
The past fortnight has seen sporadic rain in Karnataka, which in turn had increased the inflow into Kelavarapalli dam in Hosur. Kelavarapalli dam feeds into Thenpennai river that feeds the KRP dam. With the inflow increasing from Kelavarapalli dam, the two main canals that are expected to feed the intervening tanks are still undergoing repair.
However, according to an official source, there was no delay. “The water from KRP dam for the second crop of summer was released till March 30. While the sluices should have been shut by March 17, it was extended at the behest of the farmers. The repair works of the two main canals were started only in April and it had been only two months, the source added.
According to the official, 95 % of works in the LMC are completed. “The RMC repair is nearing completion. They will be completed by June.”
