Pampa Sagar Dam's crest gate fixed a week after it was swept away
Bengaluru, Aug 17: The damaged crest gate of the Pampa Sagar dam on the Tungabhadra river in Koppal district was on Saturday finally fixed after its chain snapped and it was swept away on August 11 night, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said.
The dam with a water holding capacity of 104 TMC had to release about 35 TMC downstream to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after being filled to the brim in the recent rains.
The decision to empty the dam was taken to prevent any damage to the dam and take up the repair work.
"Our engineers and senior officers gave me information with video message that the water flow has stopped," Shivakumar, who holds the Water Resources portfolio, told reporters here.
According to the DCM, there was an inflow of 65,000 cusecs water, which the officers were trying to store.
The Karnataka government had roped in hydro-mechanical engineer N Kannaiah Naidu from Hyderabad to fix the damaged gate.
Along with him, the Karnataka government sought the assistance of JSW Group to manufacture steel items for the dam, and two contractor firms Hindustan Engineering and Narayana Engineering.
The DCM thanked Naidu, JSW, the two contractor firms, the officials of the Tungabhadra Board on behalf of the state government.
He also said the crest gate had only one chain due to which it happened. The state government would work to have two chains to avoid such recurrences in future.
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Road crash in UP leaves 10 dead
Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) (PTI): Ten people were killed when a van collided head-on with a truck on the Sisaiya-Lakhimpur national highway on Monday, police said.
The van was going to Sisaiya from Lakhimpur when the accident took place between Unchgaon and Bharehta villages.
Circle Officer of Dhaurahra, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, said all nine passengers travelling in the van and the driver were killed.
District Magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri Anjani Kumar Singh told reporters that the van collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction, leading to nine casualties on the spot, while one succumbed to injuries at the district hospital.
Circle Officer, Dhaurahra, Shamsher Bahadur Singh told PTI, "Efforts are on to establish the identity of other deceased persons."
The seven of the deceased have been identified as Jaideep Singh (25), Pawan (23), Sohan (21), Ram Goyal (42), Sahajram (35), Pappu (18), all residents of Bahraich district and Adnan Khan (15), a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri district, police said.
Condoling the loss of lives in the accident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a post on X, said, "The loss of life in the unfortunate road accident in Lakhimpur Kheri district is deeply distressing and heart-wrenching. My condolences are with the bereaved families."
"I have directed the local administration to provide prompt and adequate assistance to the injured and the victims. I pray to Lord Shri Ram to grant the departed souls a place at His divine feet and to bestow a speedy recovery upon the injured," Adityanath said on X.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak too condoled the loss of lives in the accident.
"The loss of lives resulting from the road accident in Lakhimpur Kheri district is deeply tragic and heart-wrenching. My deepest condolences go out to the bereaved families," Maurya said.
