Karnataka: Engineers lower first element of crest gate, confident of fixing breach in Tungabhadra dam soon

The engineers on Friday evening managed to lower and fix one element of the stop log gate, amid the heavy flow and fading light, in gate number 19 of the Tungabhadra dam.

The crest gate, which washed away after the chain link snapped late Saturday night, was 60 feet high and 20 feet wide. Five elements measuring 4 feet wide, were readied at the Hindustan Engineering Company’s shed at Hosalli in Koppal taluk. One of the five elements has been fixed on Friday.

Egged on by early success, the engineers, under the guidance of hydro-mechanical engineer N Kannaiah Naidu, are confident of fixing the remaining four elements of the gate in a couple of days. According to Naidu, the lifespan of the crest gate of a dam is about 40 years. But the one which crashed on Saturday night had served 30 years more than the average.

Earlier in the day a portion of skywalk and balancing beam were brought down to allow free movement of cranes.  

After the successful lowering of first elemant, Koppal district minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, Vijayanagar in-charge minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, Koppal MP Rajashekar Hitnal, CADA chairman Hasansab Dotihal among others greeted Kannaiah Naidu and his team and distributed sweets. “The engineers have been sweating it out to fix the new crest gate for the past four to five days. They have successfully lowered one element on Friday and the remaining four elements would be fixed in a day or two,” Tangadagi told reporters. The minister exuded confidence of the increase in  inflow into dam in the coming days. He said that the chief minister would offer bagina after the reservoir reached its optimum level.