Almatti engineers showed foresight

While the political establishment dithered over the project, in the bargain losing Karnataka’s rightful share of the Krishna water, the engineers executed the related works of the dam, the height of which was stuck at 519 metres against the planned 524.25 metres, thanks to objections by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Now with the second tribunal upholding Karnataka’s right to raise the height to 524.25 metres, there is no technical obstacle to raise the height.

“The engineers reduced the height in such a manner that there should be no hiccup to raise it whenever required,” an engineer of the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam told Deccan Herald.
“All that is required is the Gazette notification of the award and the rising of the height does not require more time and money,” he said, on condition of anonymity .

Given the extraordinary delay in implementation of UKP projects, the words should be great relief for beneficiary farmers.

The dam, incidentally, is the only project successfully completed under the Upper Krishna Project. Water storage started in the reservoir in 2000 by which time the State had lost its share of Krishna water allotted to it under ‘A’ scheme.