Kasargod district will replicate design of Dakshina Kannada farmer's ring-shaped check dam

Nitile Mahabaleshwara Bhat, a farmer in Kodapadavu village near Vittal, had constructed a micro-ring check dam across a stream in 2008

The Kasargod district administration is conserving water and replenishing the groundwater table by replicating an innovative farming technique developed by a farmer in the neighbouring district of Dakshina Kannada.

Nitile Mahabaleshwara Bhat, a farmer in Kodapadavu village near Vittal in Dakshina Kannada district, had constructed a micro-ring check dam across a stream that flows in his farmland in 2008, which will now help farmers in Kasargod.

EP Rajamohan, special officer for Kasaragod Development Package took the initiative to bring ring check dams to his district. But this innovation was born out of necessity for Bhat back in 2008. The design of the dam is easy and requires minimal resources: a concrete ring and an iron shutter.

“I had to cross a 20 feet-wide stream near my house in order to reach the plantation. Engineers estimated that a bridge across the stream would incur a cost Rs 1.5 lakh. In 2008, I had a custom-built two-foot concrete ring with a thickness of four-inch and a diameter of eight feet placed across the stream,” he said.

“Motivated by the rainwater harvesting expert and Adike Pathrike editor Shree Padre’s campaign to revive traditional kattas, I added an iron sheet with gunny bags at the edges, which serves as a gate and helps in recharging the groundwater table,” he recollected. "The bridge constructed using cement rings, laterite stone and mud cost just Rs 36,000. The check dam allows the movement of trucks, pick-up vehicles, auto-rickshaws. Now I can carry areca nuts from plantation to the house and fertilisers or manure to the plantation using a vehicle,” says Bhat.

“Once this ring katta-cum-bridge is constructed, it does not require any maintenance. Kattas are traditional dams used for impounding water from December to February end. It was Shree Padre who exposed Kasargod district administration officials to this unique model. A team of 8 to 10 engineers from Kasargod had visited my plantation to replicate the model in their district," he added.

Bhat is a recipient of the Krishi Pandita award in 2007 for bringing innovation in farming.

"Officials in Kasargod Development Package and MGNREGS are using this model across small rivulets, streams in the district. The district administration is planning to build nearly 3,000 micro ring check dams and 600 among them are to be completed this year,” he said.

On its Facebook page, Kasargod District Collector Sajith Babu had said, “We have done many such structures in past six months and going to have 150 more such structures within a month. It costs less than Rs 1 lakh and no time delays due to Administrative Sanction (AS), Technical Sanction (TS), Tender etc. With help of this model, we will build small bridges for the poor and the underprivileged.”

Bhat said with a bright smile that at least 8 to 10 such micro ring check dams had been constructed at Punacha, Pundikai and the surrounding villages in Vittal.