Farmers seek dredging of stream in Brahmavar taluk, threaten stir

Demanding desilting of Sooladpu-Madivalasalu stream in Brahmavar taluk of Udupi district, Raitha Dhwani of Kota threatened on Friday that it will stage a mega protest in front of Brahmavar Tahsildar’s office if no action is taken within a fortnight.

Addressing presspersons in Udupi, its president Jayaram Shetty said that as the stream has not been dredged, Manoor, Kaikoor, Giliyar, Chitrapady, Karkada and Kavady villages in the taluk are witnessing artificial flood every year. Though the matter has been taken up at the official level, there is no move to dredge the stream, he alleged.

Artificial flood during rainy season affects hundreds of acres of farm lands in addition to affecting families living in low lying areas, Mr. Shetty said.

Giliyar-Belur-Kota-Saibrakatte road connectivity gets cut off during the floods, he said.

“On December 16, 2024, we met Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and apprised him of the situation arising out of silt accumulation. Then Mr. Shivakumar wrote a note recommending the Karnataka Neeravari Nigama Limited (KNNL) engineers to take up the desilting work by earmarking ₹4.5 crore for the purpose. After this, we assisted the engineers from the KNNL in preparing the estimate of the de-silting work and the detailed estimate was sent to the Chief Engineer of KNNL, Upper Tunga Project Zone Shivamogga. But no progress has been so far,” he said.

Mr. Shetty said that the matter has been discussed at the general body meetings of local six gram panchayats and Saligrama town panchayat and resolutions have been passed by them on the need to dredge the stream.