Vanivilasa Sagar, 100 years on...

DEVELOPMENT

The lone reservoir in Chitradurga district, Vanivilasa Sagar has turned 100. Built across the Vedavathi river near Marikanive in Hiriyur taluk, the reservoir was meant to provide irrigation facilities to nearly 25,000 acres of land in the region.

The Mysore kings realised the dream of the people in the region who hoped that the Vedavathi river water be utilised for irrigation. Dewan K Seshadri Iyer of the erstwhile Mysore state formed a committee in 1897, after taking the situation in the district into account.

In 1898, he even visited the district to understand the conditions in the region. It was only after this visit that a go-ahead was given for the construction of the dam.
The construction took nine years before it reached completion. The dam was named after Maharani Kempananjammanni Vanivilasa. In the intervening period, Dewan Seshadri Iyer had passed away. The dam won a lot of fame for being the biggest in the state.

By 1910, water from the reservoir was flown into fields, and the arid region began to see a lot of greenery. Hundreds of farmers’ families heaved a sigh of relief. Thanks to the areca, coconut, sugarcane and paddy, parts of Hiriyur saw greenery. Hiriyur also saw the construction of the Vanivilasa Sugar factory, which was a source of employment to several people in the region.

For some years after the dam’s construction, everything went according to plan. The water from the reservoir also catered to the drinking water needs of people in Chitradurga and Hiriyur towns. But, apart from two years in its history (1933 and 2000) when the reservoir reached the  maximum level of water storage, Vanivilasa Sagar was never full to the brim again. Gradually, farmers stopped growing sugarcane, and the sugar factory here too stopped functioning.

The water storage capacity of the reservoir is 30 TMC. Water that flows into the reservoir now has dipped drastically. In the upper areas of the reservoir, over 700 small tanks and check dams have been constructed.

In recent times, thanks to persistent campaigns by farmers in the region, the government has agreed to let five TMC of water into the reservoir under the Upper Bhadra Project’s A scheme. This has offered hope to farmers in the region.

Also, thanks to rampant encroachments and sand mining, the Vedavathi river basin is being affected badly. The Vanivilasa Sagar dam, also known as the Marikanive dam is an excellent tourist spot. Even as it has completed hundred years of operation, it is pertinent that some action is taken to rid the region of its troubles.

The backwaters of the dam is tailormade for water sports. The Youth Services and Sports Department has chalked out a programme to draw more youngsters towards adventure sport in the region. With the help of General Thimayya Adventure Sports Academy, an adventure sport centre is being planned at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore.