Bengaluru, 13 Aug

Former Lok Sabha member VS Ugrappa has once again appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address critical issues related to Tungabhadra Dam in Ballari parliamentary constituency.

Ugrappa said he had written letters to Centre and State governments and Tungabhadra Development Board in August 2023. But no action had been taken by anyone of them, so far.  In a letter sent on 11 August, 2023, the former MP had raised two concerns with regard to the dam: the accumulation of silt in the dam and the underutilisation of excess water from its catchment area.

He said Tungabhadra Dam, constructed in 1953 at Hosapete, was originally designed to store 132 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water. Over the past 70 years, more than 33 TMC of silt has accumulated, reducing the dam's storage capacity to below 100 TMC. Ugrappa had said the silt build-up had led to a loss of water, which could otherwise be used for irrigation and drinking.

The former MP had then appealed to the Prime Minister to act to resolve these issues, and proposed that water from the dam be declared a national asset and it be recognised as a National Irrigation Project. He had also urged Central government to allocate sufficient funds for removing accumulated silt and for constructing balancing reservoirs to utilise the excess water.

Speaking to Salar News on Tuesday, Ugrappa said his plea to the Centre had fallen on deaf ears and his proposal to declare the dam and water a nation asset had been largely ignored.

Ugrappa called for an assessment by Tungabhadra Dam Board to determine the feasibility of silt removal and to formulate an action plan for effective water utilisation. Ugrappa's letter, a copy of which has been accessed by Salar News, had underscored the urgency of addressing these longstanding issues to ensure that the benefits of Tungabhadra Dam's water resources are fully realised for the people of Karnataka and the surrounding regions.

The catchment area of the Tungabhadra Dam spans around 28,180 square kilometres, generating an estimated 432 TMC of water annually. According to the tribunal's award, Karnataka is allocated 65 per cent of this water, while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana share the remaining 35 per cent. Despite this allocation, more than 200 TMC of excess water continues to flow downstream into the sea, unused by the states. —Salar News