Text Size: A- A+

New Delhi: The Indian Navy’s most modern base, INS Kadamba, in Karnataka’s Karwar has been reeling under an acute water crisis. Considered one of the most modern naval bases in the country, it houses warships, submarines and the country’s lone aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

According to officials, the Gangavali river in Ankola Taluk which supplies clean water to the area has dried up due to lack of pre-monsoon rainfall and, therefore, the crisis.

“The condition is expected to improve with the first spell of rains,” said a Navy official, when asked about this unique situation.

While the base requires nearly 6 million litres per day (MLD) for the maintenance of its ships, the crew on board, other personnel and their families staying in the base, it has been receiving less than 1 MLD of water.

The Navy had to bring water from Mumbai early this week through its fleet taker INS Deepak. Naval base sources said that thousands of litres of water has now been kept in storage facilities at the base.

“There are no plans of shifting any ships to Mumbai. We are making interim arrangement for water. We are hopeful that with the first spell of rains, things would improve,” Navy spokesperson Captain D K Sharma told The Print.

The situation has been so severe that the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board had also deployed earth movers to dig small canals running up to 5 kilometres in the Gangavali river bed in order to drain water from its pits.

Also reads: New Navy chief’s first order — no ‘quasi religious’ functions, please, we are the Navy

Dry spell

Karnataka has been facing an acute water crisis, so much so that the state water resources minister D.K. Shivakumar had Monday declared that the four reservoirs in the Cauvery belt have only 13.9 TMC of water available. He also said that the government has issued strict instructions to all deputy commissioners to evaluate availability of water and decide on the “best recourse to supply drinking water”.

Vacations in several schools in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts were also extended for a week due to the severe water crisis.

The INS Kadamba is spread over 11,500 acres and will become Asia’s largest naval base once the ongoing expansion under Phase 2 is completed. After completion, it will have over 100,000 personnel working at the base apart from their families living in residential quarters.

This report has been updated with additional information

Also reads: These 5 Indian Army, IAF heroes are the faces of the Kargil conflict

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram

Why news media is in crisis & How you can fix it You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust. You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism. We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And have just turned three. At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous and questioning journalism. Please click on the link below. Your support will define ThePrint’s future. Support Our Journalism

Show Full Article