A sluice gate of the Tungabhadra dam in Karnataka’s Koppal district was washed away last week, leading to a flood alert and opening the floodgates of blame politics. It resulted in the loss of a large amount of water that could spell disaster for downstream districts in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. While work on fixing a temporary crest gate is expected to be completed by the weekend, over 8,000 million cubic feet of water has already been released.
There is much politicking over who was responsible for the 45-tonne gate coming unhinged after a chain broke. Leaders are pointing at each other with allegations of “mismanagement” and “lack of maintenance” during their rival’s tenure. The opposition BJP and JDS went after the Congress government for its “negligence” and accused Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar of being “too busy working for the Gandhis” to worry about his water resources portfolio.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah assured farmers that there would be no scarcity of water in upstream areas and that he did not want to blame anyone, but made an oblique observation that the chairperson of the Tungabhadra Board is appointed by the central government. This finger-pointing is akin to the politics in Assam, where Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accused a private university in Meghalaya of “flood jihad”, saying the university had deliberately demolished hills on its campus leading to water-logging in Guwahati.
The 70-year-old Tungabhadra project irrigates 9,26,000 acres in Karnataka, 6,25,000 acres in Andhra Pradesh and 87,000 acres in Telangana. With more rain forecast for the next two months in Karnataka and the reservoir of the 1,633-ft dam near the brim, the focus should be on saving farmers and their hard work. Last year, they had to contend with a severe drought and poor yield; this year they could lose standing crops. The state should look at maintenance issues of dams, many of them standing for decades, and bring in the best technical expertise for desilting to improve storage.
Every natural calamity or accident should serve to bring out the best in people. The Wayanad tragedy in Kerala was one such example of the Centre and state working together, ready to forget their bitter differences. Similarly, it is hoped that politicians set aside their pettiness for the welfare of the state. Politics can wait.