Heavy discharge from Kabini dam results in deluge

Normal life has been affected in the areas on the banks of River Kapila following release of a large quanity of water from Kabini reservoir in Beechanahalli, HD Kote taluk.

As many as 76 houses have been damaged while 14 are submerged in the Kapila waters. The residents have been shifted to safety. Several bridges including the one at Nanjangud town are under water. All the tributaries of Kapila are in spate. Additional police forces have been deployed near the bridges and movement of vehicles has been diverted.

According to the officials, property, including crops worth lakhs of rupees have been damaged. However, there have been no reports of loss of life. H D Kote MLA Anil Chikkamadu and Assistant Commissioner Nitish Kumar visited the affected areas.

On Thursday, the outflow from Kabini reservoir reached 80,000 cusec, the highest ever since the construction of the dam in 1974. The highest amount of discharge from the dam till now was 70.100 cusec in 1992.

Executive Engineer C P Jagadeesh told DH that all precautionary measures had been taken before increasing the outflow. “Flood alerts were issued to the people on the river banks and they are being shifted to safety.”

The inflow to the dam began to rise from August 8 with copious rain in Kerala. “It is inevitable to release large quantities of water as the inflow is very high and the dam has reached it’s full reservoir level (FRL). Several areas have been submerged and the situation may continue for another day,” the engineer said. He added that the in a span of one month the dam had reached FRL thrice.

On the other hand, the residents and farmers on the banks of the River Kapila are under fear following a flood-like situation. A majority of the farmers in the region had prepared for paddy cultivation. Due to the sudden rise in the water level in the river, agriculture fields have been submerged, forcing the farmers to postpone their plan.

Chikkakempaiah of Karagala village owns three acres of land out of which two acres has been submerged. He had prepared the land for sowing, but had to postpone it following the rise in water level. “I had prepared for ploughing today, but, the land was flooded last night,” he said.

Devaraj, another farmer, said that a standing crops of jowar and banana on vast tracts of land had been damaged. “The officials had issued a warning, but, we never thought such a huge quantity of water would be released to the river. There is no alternative for the officials, but to release the water to the river,” he said.