Maha not releasing water to state as promised, alleges DKShi

Bengaluru: The state minister for Water Resource, DK Shivakumar on Saturday, May 18 said that the Maharashtra government was not releasing water to Krishna river despite an agreement reached between the two states.

Addressing presspersons here he said that though Maharastra government agreed to release water to the state after our continuous request, they are now not ready to water to Krishna river.

He further informed that the Karnataka government will release one thousand million cubics (TMC) of water to help the people deal with the crisis.
He said, “For the benefit of the farmers and people of Kagwad and Athani, we are releasing last one TMC live storage.”

The state government has, so far, declared more than 3,000 regions to be highly affected by drinking water scarcity. According to the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, 138 out of a total of 176 talukas in Karnataka have a low groundwater level. Bagepalli, Chikkaballapura, Sidlaghatta, Bangarpet and Kolar are among the worst affected talukas.

The state government, in December last year, declared 156 out of the 176 talukas as drought-hit due to failed Monsoon.