`Bhageeratha`: Siddu Nyamagouda The Man Who Built First Pvt Dam Across Krishna River

Описание: TV9 Specials: `Bhageeratha`: Siddu Nyamagouda The Man Who Built First Pvt Dam Across Krishna River

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Given a chance, in the current political landscape, every neta loves to be called as ‘Bhageerata’ for their efforts to get water to respective constituencies. Amid such breed of netas, Siddu Nyamagouda, MLA from Jamakhandi taluk in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, was a mismatch. With absolutely no interest in politics, way back in 1988, Nyamagouda not only united thousands of farmers, but went on to motivate farmers to build India’s first private dam across the Krishna. In a cruel twist, Nyamagouda died in a road accident on Monday morning.

Hailed as the leader of farmers, Nyamagouda never mixed politics with farmers’ cause. With vast stretch of arid land, North Karnataka has always been prone to droughts. Though the Karnataka government, led by then CM Ramakrishna Hegde, promised to fund if the farmers were ready to bear the quarter of the expenses, it refused to fund owing to political reasons.
Determined to build a barrage, the farmers from over 30 villages pooled in money by pledging their ornaments amounting Rs 1 crore and lent hand personally in shifts to build the barrage brick by brick. Toiling day and night for over six months, they built the country’s first ever private dam at Chikkapadasalagi village in 1989 and named it as ‘Shrama Bindu Sagar’. It was only this popularity of Nyamagouda that catapulted him to the national level politics. No wonder, the Congress pitted Nyamagouda against Ramakrishna Hegde during the 1991 Lok Sabha polls.

In a tough battle, Nymagouda not only trounced Hegde with considerable margin, but also went on to become minister in the PV Narasimha Rao’s cabinet. Riddled with petty politics and instigated by Nyamagouda’s rivals, the barrage was left high and dry during the severe drought of 2016. It was then the farmers realised the importance of cooperation and refused to mix politics with their water cause. In 2018, the farmers, joining hands together, had brought back the barrage to its past glory!
Representing Bagalkot along with former CM Siddaramaiah who won in Badami, Nyamagouda had every chance of becoming a minister in the Cong-JDS coalition government in the state.

In fact, he met senior AICC leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad and was assured of a berth in the Cabinet. For the record, the barrage now holds up to 3 tmc of water during the summer months, providing potable and irrigation water across the drought-stricken villages.