Date:26/09/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/09/26/stories/2005092619690100.htm

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State to complain to Centre about water release from Maharashtra

Special Correspondent

To take up with Union Ministry move to increase storage capacity of Koyna Dam

TAKING STOCK: Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh and Deputy Chief Minister M.P. Prakash being received by Mayor Chandrika Parameshwar in Gulbarga on Sunday.

GULBARGA: Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh and Deputy Chief Minister M.P. Prakash said on Sunday that the State will file a complaint with the Centre and the Central Water Commission about the indiscriminate release of water by Maharashtra from its reservoirs without notice, causing floods in the villages on the banks of the Krishna and the Bhima.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Singh and Mr. Prakash said that the State Government will also take up with the Union Water Resources Ministry and the Central Water Commission, the reported move by Maharashtra to increase the storage capacity of the Koyna Dam.

Referring to the allegations of Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly B.S. Yediyurappa that Maharashtra, in the guise of repairs to Koyna Dam, is increasing its height to store additional 6.5 tmcft of water, they asserted that they will not allow the State's interests to suffer.

Mr. Prakash said that the Maharashtra Government had informed the State that it proposes to take up repairs to the Koyna Dam and that he is not aware of its move to increase the height of the dam.

On the release of water from the reservoirs in Maharashtra owing to the heavy inflow and rains in the catchment area, Mr Singh said that he has spoken to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh twice and told him that the quantum of release of water from the Dhanegoan and Latur reservoirs is much more than what Maharashtra is claiming.

The release of water from these two barrages has resulted in the floods in Bidar district affecting 62 villages. The State Government has released Rs. 15 crores to Bidar district to take up the relief operations, he added.

Mr. Singh said that the State is sympathetic to the problem faced by Maharashtra, which is experiencing unusually heavy rains, and the excess storage of water in Koyna Dam will flood Sangli and other areas coming in the backwaters of the dam. "I talked to the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on the problems faced by Karnataka owing to the release of water from Koyna Dam."

Relief operations

Mr. Singh and Mr. Prakash said all the hurdles faced by the district administrations of the flood-affected districts in taking up relief measures and spending the amount allocated to them have been removed.

The Deputy Commissioners have been given a free hand in implementing the action plan and flood relief works have been exempted from the Transparency Act which requires that all works should be taken up after calling tenders.

Mr. Singh reiterated the State's demand that the Centre relax the norms of the Natural Calamity Funds and allow the State Governments to provide relief on the lines of "tsunami model" and enhance the compensation to agriculturists who have lost their standing crops in the floods.