Green signal for removing silt at Baje dam

Udupi district administration has given green signal for removing silt in Baje dam, the water supply to Udupi town and surrounding gram panchayats.

According to CMC officials, a tender has been invited for silt removal from Baje dam to Mane bridge at an estimated cost of Rs 2.90 crore and from Mane bridge to Shiroor at an estimated cost of Rs 2.34 crore.

Silt will be removed on the river for seven kilometer from Baje dam. The amount required for removing the silt will be utilised from CMC funds.

With Baje dam drying up completely, the Udupi district administration and CMC are facing a tough time in supplying water to the citizens by dividing 35 wards into six zones to supply water once in six days.

The silt was earlier removed from Baje dam way back in 2010.

In fact, MLA Raghupathi Bhat and volunteers had carried out shramadan near Baje dam, to facilitate easy flow of water from the river to the dam, to increase water level in Baje dam.

With the water-level in the Baje dam against the Swarna reaching the dead storage level, the Udupi City Municipal Council had also pumped water from the big holes in the riverbed which contain water, and supply it to the city.

The storage capacity of the Baje dam is 1.2 million cubic metres.