<p>Koppal: The six rickety and defective crest gates of the Tungabhadra reservoir have become a cause for worry to farmers. Water release from these crest gates has been stopped as the dam authorities claimed that they have lost 80 to 90% of their strength.</p>.<p>Officials say that these six gates may break if water is released through them and that the other gates have around 50-60% strength.</p>.<p>However, they maintained that there will be no problem as long as they maintain the storage level at 80 tmcft against the maximum capacity of 105 tmcft till the gates are replaced before next June.</p>.<p>Authorities have stopped water release from gates 11, 18, 20, 24, 27 and 28 and continued the water discharge from the other gates as the reservoir has been receiving good inflow due to abundant rainfall.</p>.<p>Last year, the 19th crest gate was washed away resulting in a huge amount of water discharge and a temporary gate was fixed after a week-long operation.</p>.<p>Though this gate is leaking, Tungabhadra Board technical officer Raghavendra said steps will be taken to plug it. </p>.<p>The expert committee had recommended the replacement of all 33 crest gates.</p>.<p>Authorities have released around 130 tmcft of water into the river during this monsoon. On Friday, inflow had reached 23 cusecs and a like amount of water is being released to maintain the storage level at 80 tmcft.</p>.<p>Officials could not replace the gates this year due to the early onset of monsoon and plan to replace all crest gates before next June.</p>.<p>Farmers in paddy growing areas of Koppal, Raichur, Vijayanagar and Ballari districts have been deprived of water for their second crop since the dam is unable to maintain maximum storage, said Koppal District In-charge Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, who is also ICC Irrigation Advisory Committee chairman. </p>.<p>Meanwhile, Gangavati MLA G Janardhan Reddy has slammed the state government for failing to replace all crest gates during summer.</p>
<p>Koppal: The six rickety and defective crest gates of the Tungabhadra reservoir have become a cause for worry to farmers. Water release from these crest gates has been stopped as the dam authorities claimed that they have lost 80 to 90% of their strength.</p>.<p>Officials say that these six gates may break if water is released through them and that the other gates have around 50-60% strength.</p>.<p>However, they maintained that there will be no problem as long as they maintain the storage level at 80 tmcft against the maximum capacity of 105 tmcft till the gates are replaced before next June.</p>.<p>Authorities have stopped water release from gates 11, 18, 20, 24, 27 and 28 and continued the water discharge from the other gates as the reservoir has been receiving good inflow due to abundant rainfall.</p>.<p>Last year, the 19th crest gate was washed away resulting in a huge amount of water discharge and a temporary gate was fixed after a week-long operation.</p>.<p>Though this gate is leaking, Tungabhadra Board technical officer Raghavendra said steps will be taken to plug it. </p>.<p>The expert committee had recommended the replacement of all 33 crest gates.</p>.<p>Authorities have released around 130 tmcft of water into the river during this monsoon. On Friday, inflow had reached 23 cusecs and a like amount of water is being released to maintain the storage level at 80 tmcft.</p>.<p>Officials could not replace the gates this year due to the early onset of monsoon and plan to replace all crest gates before next June.</p>.<p>Farmers in paddy growing areas of Koppal, Raichur, Vijayanagar and Ballari districts have been deprived of water for their second crop since the dam is unable to maintain maximum storage, said Koppal District In-charge Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, who is also ICC Irrigation Advisory Committee chairman. </p>.<p>Meanwhile, Gangavati MLA G Janardhan Reddy has slammed the state government for failing to replace all crest gates during summer.</p>
