HOSAPETE: A team of experts, which has been camping at Hosapate after the TB Dam’s crest gate No 19 washed away on Sunday, said on Tuesday that work on fixing a new gate will commence on Wednesday.
Revealing this to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here, they said the gate installation work will be completed by August 17. After visiting the dam, Siddaramaiah held a high-level meeting with engineers and experts from Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh led by hydro-mechanical engineer N Kannaiah Naidu.
Siddaramaiah told reporters that he did not want to blame anybody for the crest gate incident. “I have promised farmers of the three states that a new crest gate will be installed at the earliest,” he said.
Dam will be maintained: CM
“During the meeting, the engineers informed me that they will begin the installation work on Wednesday,” Siddaramaiah added. He said the experts’ suggestions on dam maintenance will be followed henceforth. A parallel reservoir at Navali will be built at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore. A DPR is ready and he will discuss it with the CMs of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana soon, Siddaramaiah added.
Naidu said the new crest gate is ready. Four cranes from Bengaluru had reached Hosapete. The team is waiting for water storage in the dam to come down to 60 tmcft. Hopefully, the work will be completed by August 17, he added.