The trial run of water flow in the pipeline laid as part of the Yettinahole project caused flooding in low-lying areas in Sakleshpur taluk on Saturday, December 2, leaving the locals furious.
Many houses at Halli Mane near Harle-Kudige were flooded. Coffee beans spread for drying in an open place were washed away. A road was also damaged. The local people blamed the officers of the Yettinahole project for the damage caused. They also raised doubts over the quality of the work executed.
Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Project has been taken up to carry water to drought-prone districts. As laying the pipeline in the first phase of the work has been completed, the contractors have taken up a trial run of water flow. The purpose of the trial run is to find unplugged holes along the pipeline.
Following the incidents on Saturday, senior officers of the project and Cement Manju, Sakleshpur MLA, visited the spots and interacted with the public. They assured the public of repair work at places where damage had been caused.
D.H. Venkatesh, Executive Engineer (Sakleshpur) of the Yettinahole project, told The Hindu that the trial run had been stopped at the moment. “We had taken up a trial run for a 14.5-km pipeline. So far, we have completed the trial run for about 10 km. As of now, we have stopped trial for the rest, considering the people’s opinion,” he said.
There was leakage of water at Dekhala and Harle-Kudige villages, besides two other points. The damage caused had come to the attention of officers. “We have taken up repair work,” he said.
Before going for further trial runs, the officers have decided to examine the pipeline thoroughly. Experts would be joining the engineers to find out the leakage points. “In any project, a trial run has to be conducted to check the leakage. This is part of the work. This is necessary to ensure the efficiency of the work,” he said.
