Bantwal: Is Shambhoor on Way to Become Another Neerakatte?
News and Pics from Mounesh Vishwakarma
for Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (RD/CN)
Bantwal, Aug 20: With memories of the Neerakatte hydel plant tragedy still fresh, residents living along the embankment of Shamboor Madimugeru, are concerned for their safety since the vented dam under construction across the Netravati River in their locality, has already developed cracks.
Portions of the vented dam have even collapsed. Cracks have been found at Neerakatte and also at the site of the Shamboor power project where barrier walls erected at two locations, have been washed away. Fortunately, there has been no loss of life due to this.
Just a few days ago, six workers perished in the flood waters which invaded the turbine room at Neerakatte. Work here stalled after incessant rains lashed Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts over the past few weeks. Construction labourers have been temporarily relocated to safer areas.
The Shamboor power project began three years ago, despite opposition from the locals who had no information about the project. They expressed their anguish over the execution of the project, in a gram sabha held at Narikombu gram panchayat auditorium, recently. Several houses in the vicinity of the project were damaged as the contractors used dynamites to blast the boulders at the site.
Project officers had surveyed the damage in the presence of locals, at the insistence of MLA Ramanath Rai. The survey report revealed that the blasts had damaged over 200 houses, bore wells, places of worship, and agricultural holdings.
Poor quality of work is thought to have caused portions of the vented dam to collapse. Although three quarters of the work on the vented dam with a height of around 18 metres and length of 300 metres has been completed, the quality of work seems deplorable. The dam has 30 vents of six metres height each and a major tragedy has been averted as these vents were kept open.
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