Belthangadi: Nalkoor farmers spent few days to put up a vented dam across river Phalguni near Majalu and Deppuni villages to tide over the summer water crisis arising out of deficient rainfall in the region.
After noticing the depleting water levels in Phalguni river, villagers and farmers led by Muralidhra Gokhale used sandbags, stones, areca logs and other materials to construct a temporary vented dam.
Now the river looks wide with the storage stretching to 2 km distance and they are happy with the outcome of their efforts which lasted over two days.
From a distance the area resembles a dam and around 15 farming families in the area are confident of not facing summer water crisis to feed cattle and meet their minor irrigation needs.
State Minor Irrigation Department engineer Mohammad visited the area and showered praises on the local farming community for their efforts to save water. At the same time he has agreed to reimburse the costs incurred by the farmers.
He has assured the local farming community to push the proposal for a permanent vented dam in the area and get the project sanctioned to solve the summer water problems.
When most government projects and schemes take many years from planning to implementation stage, efforts from local farming community and villagers to find a solution to mitigate the water crisis is praiseworthy.
