Udupi (The Hindu): Minister for Minor Irrigation C.S. Puttaraju said on Friday that his department would design the new vented dams in such a manner that they would allow light vehicles to travel on it. He was chairing a review meeting of the Department of Minor Irrigation and Groundwater Development at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office.

Mr. Puttaraju said that the vented dams were basically being constructed to improve irrigation facilities. But there was demand from the people that light vehicles were allowed to ply on them. Henceforth, the new vented dams, which would be constructed, would include in their design the strength to bear the movement of light vehicles. They would be constructed taking into account the vehicle density in the local areas. Such dams were likely to have a width of about seven metres on their surface to allow for movement of light vehicles, he said.

The Minister said whenever there were floods, it was seen that discarded wood, silt, and other material blocked the flow of water in the dams. It was essential that departmental officers took immediate steps to clean this up. A grant of Rs. 20 lakh would be provided to every Assembly constituency for this purpose. Also, since there were complaints that the wooden gates installed at the vented and small dams got damaged quickly and were of little use in the long run, the department was planning to use the kinds of gates used at dams in Maharashtra and Telangana, he added.

It was incumbent upon officers to take up works to prevent saline water from the sea getting mixed with water near the coast. This would help in making sweet water available in large quantities. The government was taking all steps to protect the lakes in the State, he said.

Works to the tune of Rs. 673 crore would be taken up under the Paschima Vahini project in the district. A total of 408 works would be taken up. An amount of Rs. 52.6 crore had been released for the first phase and tenders had already been floated for 14 works, Mr. Puttaraju said.