Udupi: Swarna river overflows, locals face threat of floods

Sheeja Moodubelle
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, Jul 29: Udupi and nearby villages are facing peril from Baje Dam as the overflowing Swarna river has swallowed most of the plain land near Anjar gram panchayat.

In summers, the whole district depends on the Swarna river. But this summer, for the first time, the district faced a crucial water deficiency as the river had completely dried up.

Now, the continuous rain in the district has caused the river to overflow. The reason for the same, as per the locals, is the small hydro power project which was going on one side. The water has to pass through a vented dam. The space for this was not enough, so erosion occurred.

Though there are no houses nearby, there are some a little further away and these are under threat by the swelling river.

The local people said that erosion is not natural and has been created because of the dam. There are a lot of agricultural lands which have been used for dam construction.

The power project company is trying to block the water with stones but is not able to control it completely.

But there is no damage to the dam. It has a capacity of 30 million liters of water. The CMC limit with 20,000 houses and other buildings and nearby villages depend on the water. There was a plan to build another dam by the CMC earlier.

Heavy rainfall during the current monsoon season has left the residents in the district dazed as it has never
recorded such downpour in recent times.

The data available with the District Statistical Department states that the district has received 77.63 percent excess rainfall from January to July till date, as against the normal rainfall seen during this time.

The District Commissioner Office control room stated that almost all rivers in the district have crossed the danger mark. However, the rain has receded over the past couple of days, owing to which there might be some recession in the water level.

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