From now on, there will be regular water supply: MLA K. Abayachandra Jain

The much-awaited Maravoor vented dam, which meets the drinking water needs of people in 14 villages near Mangaluru, began its operation on Tuesday. This is the first vented dam under the State government’s Multi Village Drinking Water Scheme to become operational in Dakshina Kannada.

Built at a cost of ₹ 42.5 crore, this 199-m-long dam with 80 vents has been built across the Phalguni (Gurupura). The 1.25 million cubic metres of water stored in the dam is treated at a plant near the Mangaluru International Airport.

This treated water will be supplied to Bajpe, Jokatte, Malavoor, Kenjaru, Permude, Kuthethoor, Moodushedde, Padushedde, Tenka Yekkaru, Badaga Yekkar, Bala, Kalavaroo, Soorinje and Delantabettu villages in Bajpe, Malavoor, Permude, Moodushedde, Yekkar, Bala, Soorinje and Jokatte gram panchayats. Apart from meeting the drinking water needs of 56,000 villagers, the dam will help recharge groundwater in the vicinity.

A long way

It has been a long wait for the residents of these 14 villages to see the project become a reality. The exercise of building the vented dam started in 2003-04 with the Union government sanctioning ₹ 5.74 crore under the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission and the eight panchayats contributing ₹ 92 lakh. The work came to a halt with the cancellation of tender for construction of the dam.

The work resumed during the BJP government’s rule in 2010 following the sanction of ₹ 18 crore. In February 2014, the government further sanctioned ₹ 24.5 crore. The work of constructing the dam, the jackwell, the water treatment plant and laying pipelines to villages was completed in December 2016. For the last six weeks, water was supplied to the villages on a trial basis.

“From now on, there will be regular water supply,” said Moodbidri MLA K. Abayachandra Jain in his speech at the function to inaugurate the facility on Tuesday.

Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology B. Ramanath Rai said that projects under the Multi Village Drinking Water Scheme was a long-drawn-out exercise and need to be pursued stage by stage. He said that the government was trying to solve the problem related to the Multi Village Water Supply project across the Shambhavi near Kinnigoli (meant to supply water to 20 villages), which was being delayed because of the Hyderabad-based contractor, he said.

Senior Congress leader and MP Oscar Fernandes said that the success of the Maravoor vented dam now gives confidence to the government that it will complete the pending multi village drinking water projects.