Faulty design rectified

​Chinnakodur (Siddipet): Almost four months after the publication of the story on the faulty works taken up under Mission Kakatiya Phase I in The Hans India, which had rendered a percolation tank bone dry, works were taken up to rectify the mistakes in Kammarlapally village under Mylaram Gram Panchayat in Chinnakodur mandal.

Due to excessive desilting carried out close to the bund, exposing the surface strata of Jalu Cheruvu, an entire irrigation tank which was brimming with water after last year’s rains, became totally empty. This created a drought-like situation in the three villages which were dependent on that tank.

The Hans India team had approached the officials of the Irrigation Department and brought to their notice about it and also published a story on it on February 15, 2017.

Ravinder Reddy, Executive Engineer, Irrigation Department, Siddipet district, had promised that ‘positive cut-off’ would be done near the bund to prevent water from leaking. He stood by his word.

Just a couple of days ago, a long and deep trench was dug by the side of the bund using JCBs. The idea is to dig until the surface strata (Moram in Telugu) are exposed.

Two to three feet of the surface strata would be removed and it would be filled with black soil to press and seal that layer from any further water leakage near the bund. The trenches would be finally covered with black soil. This process takes about 10-15 days to complete.

However, with the monsoon approaching any moment, the villagers are worried because once it starts raining, it would become difficult to carry-out the works.

“There was a little delay because JCBs were not available. We will complete the work in another 10 days,” said Ramesh, one of the workers at the location.

The results of the effort can only be seen a couple of months after the rainy season. The Hans India will keep the readers updated.