Canal breach damages another canal, lake, crops

Loss yet to be assessed for granting compensation for farmers

Hundreds of acres of farmland was inundated, a canal and a lake was breached and vehicular traffic was affected following a breach in the Hemavathi Left Bank canal at Narayanapura in the taluk on Sunday night.

District in-charge minister Aravind Limbavali visited the spot on Monday and took stock of the situation.

He directed the officials concerned to take adequate steps to reinforce the canals and the lake and assess crop loss to provide compensation to farmers.

He said he had already spoken to the state water resources minister in connection with providing compensation.

Residents of the village said they heard a loud sound at 9.30 pm on Sunday and after some time found that the canal had breached and water was gushing into the fields.

“We called the irrigation department officials and informed them that the canal had been damaged and water was gushing out. Officials rushed to the spot, inspected the damage and reported the matter to the engineers at Gorur, who were urged to stop flow of water,” they said.

However, flow of water continued even on Monday, causing enormous crop loss.
The damage widened due to the force of the gushing water. The boulders used for the canal walls were found on nearby fields.

The water, flowing over fields, reached a lake at Nadahalli, causing its breach. To check damage, excavators were used to dig up the lake bund on another side to facilitate flow of water. It reached Sriramadeva canal.

As a result of the flood, even Sriramadeva canal was breached at Bindenahalli. Vehicular traffic was affected for some time on the Channarayapatna-Holenarsipur road as it was inundated. However, a major portion of the water reached Hemavathi river finally.

Gorur Hemavathi project chief engineer K S Krishna Reddy explained 2,300 cusecs of water had been let into the canal and an earlier weak point would have caused the damage. Tahsildar H S Sathish Babu and MLA H D Revanna too visited the spot.