With changes in weather pattern posing a serious threat to the safety of people, environmental organisations have urged the government to reduce the water storage capacity of Banasura Sagar and Karapuzha dams, the two largest earthen dams in the State, till October end to reduce risks of disasters.
Addressing the media, Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti president N. Badusha said people in the district had been denied the benefits of the Banasura Sagar dam of the KSEB at Padinharethara, “as water was not provided for irrigation purposes owing to apathy on the part of the Irrigation department.”
Deluge has become so common during the monsoon after the commissioning of the dam a decade ago, and it submerges nearly 10,000 acres belonging to farmers living downstream of the reservoir. Moreover, the KSEB is yet to provide compensation to farmers who suffered losses, he alleged.
