Mumbai/Bengaluru: Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil and his Karnataka counterpart Ramesh Jarkiholi on Wednesday held a meeting here to discuss ways to avoid the possibility of flooding in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara.
The three districts in western Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka had witnessed devastating floods last year.
Patil said that the meeting, held at the Sahyadri Guest House here, was aimed at discussing ways to avoid such a scenario this year.
At the time of last year''s floods, it was alleged that the Karnataka government had not released water from the Almatti dam on the Krishna River and its backwater caused flooding in the three districts of Maharashtra.
A panel constituted by the Maharashtra government after the calamity, however, had said that the devastating flood in western Maharashtra was not caused due to the dam.
"Held discussions with Karnataka''s Water Resources Minister @RameshJarkiholi about Almatti dam to avoid possible flood situation in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara. Both the states were hit by floods last year. The meeting was convened to avoid such a situation this year," Patil tweeted.
He said that formation of three committees is being considered to ensure coordination between the two states with regard to the dam.
The committees will be set up at the levels of engineers, secretaries and ministers from the two states, he added.
The two ministers also discussed how the neighbouring states can be alerted about possible flood situations.
Patil said "positive" discussions were held between the two governments on various water security issues.
