Hassan: A dam across river Hemavathy that has met the needs of farmers of Hassan and Mandya districts for nearly 150 years, is now likely to be modernised at a cost of Rs 60 crore.

The dam, Ramadevara Annekatte, built in 1870 by the then Maharaja of Mysuru with the help of British officials, catered to farmers of Holenarsipur and Channarayapatna in Hassan and Krishnaraja Pet in Mandya before the Hemavathy reservoir was built in Arkalgudu taluk in the seventies.

Built with stone, the old, dilapidated dam now has water leaking from its walls, but still irrigates 3,830 hectares in Holenarsipur taluk where farmers mainly grow paddy and sugarcane.

While past proposals to modernise Ramadevra Katte were ignored by the government, one finally caught the attention of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who announced the project in his recent budget speech.

"We will again send a blueprint of the plan to modernise the dam and develop the site to the government now that he has announced the project," said an official of the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited.

While the dam has been named after Lord Rama, the officials concerned have no idea why. There is also an old temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman at the site. "When excess water from the Hemavathy reservoir is let out, water floods the fields located alongside the river. So to thwart such flooding of the fields we need to build flood protection walls. The dam site can also be developed into a tourism attraction by the addition of some facilities," explained an official.