Crest gates of all 50-year-old old dams will be replaced this year: Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar

Bengaluru: The crest gates of all 50-year-old dams will be replaced this year, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has said. 

Replying to the issue raised by JD(S) MLC T A Sharavana during Zero Hour  in the Legislative Council, Shivakumar said that it began with Tungabhadra  dam. “All the crest gates of TB dam will be replaced by May this year. It requires about seven days to replace one crest gate and as per the information 14 gates have been replaced till March 10.”

He disclosed that the government had entered into an agreement with  Ahmedabad-based Hardware Toll and Machinery Project Company to replace all the crest gates of the dam at a cost of Rs 34.48 cr within 15 months. Fabrication work on 25 crest gates is completed and two more gates are being fabricated, he added.

Shivakumar informed the House that Andhra Pradesh was taking part in the talks over Navali balancing reservoir. “We cannot take unilateral decisions in this regard. All the three riparian states have to discuss the issue. Water is currently flowing into the sea and we can harness this if all parties support politically.”  

Shivakumar said that he, Industries Minister M B Patil and Law Minister H K Patil will soon travel to New Delhi for a meeting with Karnataka MPs over the objections raised by Andhra government on the Upper Krishna Project.