Karopady land owners fear intense land erosion

Karopady land owners fear intense land erosion

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, July 5, 2011: Land owners near Anekallu Hole at Karopady are afraid that the monsoon will worsen last week’s dam breach.

It may be recalled that one of the retention walls of Anekallu Hole collapsed and an acre of arecanut farm belonging to Kunhi Ahmed was submerged under water. The Anekallu Hole flows through Karnataka and Varkady in Kasargod. The 100-m retention wall collapsed because of the heavy rains, and now the river has encroached upon Mr. Ahmed’s arecanut farm.

 

 

Voicing his opinions, A. K. Umar, a relative of Mr. Ahmed, said that they have lost 400 arecanut palms, some of which are very young. He said that the state government should compensate them and the Varkady Gram Panchayat should construct a temporary retention wall to prevent the water from eroding their land.

The people of the locality say that the design of the dam caused this tragedy. Diwaker, who lives on the Kerala side, said that the water carried a lot of debris that blocked flow of water through the vents, leading to the collapse of the retention walls.

Mr. Umar, who is a member of the Karopady GP, said that the dam did not get the GP’s No Objection Certificate; however, the Varkady GP says that it obtained permission from the DC of Dakshina Kannada.

DC N. S. Channappa Gowda says that he has discussed the issue with the secretary of the Irrigation Department and will soon write to the officer. He said that the government of Karnataka will discuss the issue with the government of Kerala. He also assured that the state government will provide compensation and will also request the government of Kerala to provide adequate compensation.

The engineers of the department of minor irrigation visited the vented dam constructed across Anekallu Hole this Monday and said that they will submit a report to the state government, which will then take action according to the Inter State Water Disputes Act 1956. C. N. Venkatesh, the executive engineer of Mangalore Division, said that the gap between the vents is nearly half of what is approved in Karnataka.

Courtesy: The Hindu