The Maharashtra government has released 2.65 TMC water from Koyna dam in Satara district to Karnataka to ease the water woes of the neighbouring state, which has been reeling under “severe drought” conditions.
State Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan said the decision to release water was taken following a request made by his Karnataka counterpart, M B Patil, recently.
“We discharged 2.65 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet water from Koyna dam on Tuesday night,” Mahajan told PTI.
“Karnataka has been reeling under severe drought for the past three years. Only 20 per cent water is left in nine of the 12 dams in Karnataka. The available live storage of water in the reservoirs has touched an all-time low. The Karnataka minister called me and requested to release water from Koyna dam,” he added.
Mahajan said water has been released in order to provide relief to the people of Karnataka. “We will compensate the released water from Almatti irrigation project located near Solapur district on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border,” he said.
When asked if the discharge of water from Koyna would impact Maharashtra, the minister said since monsoon was good last year, the storage of water in dams has been sufficient.
“We will not face any drought-like situation in any part of the state this year, as there was more than average rainfall last year. The Meteorological department has predicted that this year as well, monsoon would be good,” Mahajan said.
