Minister for Minor Irrigation N.S. Boseraju inspects the under-construction vented dam across Seetha River on Friday, September 8, at Chara near Hebri in Udupi district.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Minor Irrigation Minister N.S. Boseraju on Friday, September 8, said the vented dam across River Seetha being built at Chara near Hebri in Udupi district will be completed by March next.
Speaking after inspecting the dam under construction, Mr. Boseraju said the ₹70 crore project is expected to irrigate about 2,000 acres of land in the region. It will also provide drinking water to surrounding gram panchayats.
The Minister also visited a small vented dam built at a cost of ₹1.5 crore at Shivapura village against which a few people had made allegations that it served no one. After the inspection, Mr. Boseraju claimed that the beneficiaries have told him that the dam is useful.
Mr. Boseraju said various ongoing check dam and vented dam projects worth ₹15,000 crore across the State will be completed by March 2024 thereby providing impetus to groundwater recharge. The department has also undertaken projects to fill up tanks, bridge-cum-barrages etc. In all, 12,696 projects are underway with some reaching about 70% completion. All ongoing and pending projects will be completed on priority, the Minister said.
The department, Mr. Boseraju said, is undertaking projects to provide drinking water, irrigating farmlands and helping groundwater recharge across the State. Proposals worth ₹2,000 crore for new projects are received by the department from various districts.
The Minister said if allegations of irregularities in project execution are found to be true after investigation, contractors concerned will be blacklisted while engineers will be dismissed from service.
Manjunatha Bhandary, MLC; department engineer Arun and others were present.