MADIKERI: On August 17, over 400 houses were flooded and rafters took to rescuing stranded people. The disaster was unexpected. Carcasses of dead animals floated and people were trapped in their houses with no food or drinking water. This was the dire situation witnessed at Kushalnagar, Kudmangaluru, Kudige areas in Kodagu and this devastation touched Koppa of Mysuru taluk. While floods are a natural disaster, the residents of Kushalnagar and Koppa allege this to be a man-made disaster, caused by the mismanagement of officials working at Harangi Reservoir.
“Nearly one lakh cusecs of water was suddenly released from the dam on August 16 and 17. The officials did not alert the residents and no other official consultations were made in this regard. Even the state government was not aware of so much water being released by the dam authorities,” said Chandramohan, a resident of Koppa and member of ‘Cauvery Nadi Swachhatha Andolan’ Committee. He said that Harangi, one of the major dams in the state, is under mismanagement and there are just a handful of employees working at the centre. “There is no appointed chief engineer or junior chief engineer,” he said.
K P Chandrakala, former Zilla Panchayat president blames inefficiency of the officials as the cause for the flood and accuses of corrupt officials who she claims have misused Rs 100 crore funds. “The World Bank had released Rs 100 crore for restoration and renovation of the dam. However, these funds have been used to beautify only the Inspection Bungalow. Even during CM’s visit to the dam, care was taken to decorate the IB. No other efficient work has taken place since the inception of the dam,” she said, adding, “The outflow from the dam was suddenly increased and no scientific approach was taken to ensure the safety of the people. I demand a thorough investigation in this regard. Also, there are no senior-level officials appointed here and there is not even a properly functioning office. I will raise a complaint regarding the same with CM H D Kumaraswamy, Kodagu District Minister Sa Ra Mahesh and the state irrigation department secretary and demand an immediate inquiry into the issue.”
Kushalnagar and Koppa residents are still struggling to return to normalcy, as resident Charan says, “Everything inside our house has been destroyed. Over 4 feet of water gushed into our house damaging everything.”
However, the newly appointed in-charge CEO of the reservoir, Prakash J says, “Our engineers have worked efficiently. The dam had not seen such a huge discharge of water till now and the intensity of rainfall had crossed the maximum level, which increased the inflow into the dam.”