BAGALKOT/VIJAYAPURA: Even as floodwaters have receded in the catchment areas of Malaprabha river, authorities have suspended vehicular movement on the National Highway-52, connecting Vijayapura with Hubballi, as a bridge collapsed near Konnur in Gadag district.
Vehicles have been banned for the last one week along the highway. First, the bridge was submerged under Malaprabha water. Later when the water receded, the bridge was found to be damaged bridge, forcing the authorities to continue with the ban on vehicular movement.
Local authorities directed officials to repair the bridge, which was damaged during last year’s floods too. The complaint now is that the authorities did not repair it properly.
Krishna river in spate
Krishna river is in spate and inflows into the Almatti dam were steadily increasing. At 8 am on Friday, it was 2.74 lakh cusecs and it had increased to 2.9 lakh cusecs by evening. The dam authorities are releasing 2.5 lakh cusecs for the past four days.
R P Kulkarni, chief engineer of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigama Limited, said, “The water level in the Krishna river might increase in the next 24 hours. However, the water level in Ghataprabha river is decreasing. These variations helped us keep outflow at 2.5 lakh cusecs.
We need 22 tmcft of water to reach the total storage capacity of 123 tmc ft. We are also coordinating with officials of Maharashtra to maintain water levels to prevent floods in the Krishna basin.”
12-year-old boy washed away in floodwaters
A 12-year-old boy was allegedly washed away in floodwaters near Bhimalli village of Kalaburagi taluk, on Thursday. Police said the boy, identified as Mallikarjun, had accompanied a 22-year-old youth to Bhimalli village on a two-wheeler. They were returning home in the evening when their bike was caught in gushing water of an overflowing stream. While the youth managed to swim to safety, the boy was washed away.