Karnataka will urge Centre to resolve water disputes through mediation, says Irrigation Minister
Karnataka will urge the Union government to intervene to end inter-State river water sharing disputes, Ramalinga Reddy, Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation, said on
Karnataka will urge the Union government to intervene to end inter-State river water sharing disputes, Ramalinga Reddy, Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation, said on Wednesday. He was speaking to reporters after visiting the Lal Bahadur Shastri reservoir on the Krishna in Almatti. “We have already started talks with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. At the recent event to install crest gates at the Tungabhadra dam, the Chief Ministers of all three riparian States were present. I think all the issues will be resolved in another two to three meetings. Approaching courts for every small thing will cause delays.
It is better to resolve issues through talks,” he said. “The Krishna Water Tribunal has allocated 130 tmcft to us. We need to utilise it before 2050. That can be done after raising the height of the Almatti dam. In order to do that, the State government needs to start land acquisition. We will start resource mobilisation and other works soon,” he said. Reddy said that there was no drinking water scarcity anywhere in northern Karnataka. “However, the kharif crop needs at least 67 tmcft of water. We are hoping that it rains in Maharashtra and our reservoirs are full so that the water can be released to farms later,” he said.
Meanwhile, heavy rains in parts of Maharashtra and Belagavi district led to increased water levels in the Krishna and its tributaries. The Yadur-Kallol bridge-cum-barrage was submerged on Wednesday. However, discharge from Maharashtra was slightly decreased by Wednesday evening. The total discharge was around 64,218 cusecs, around 250 cusecs less than on Tuesday. The Almatti dam had around 83 tmcft of water as against the full capacity of 123 tmcft. The inflow was around 63,792 cusecs and outflow was around 12,500 cusecs. The Hipparagi barrage had an inflow of around 58,500 cusecs and an outflow of 57,850 cusecs.
The Raja Lakhamagouda reservoir has around 22.8 tmcft of water as against the full capacity of 51 tmcft. The inflow was s around 11,749 cusecs and the outflow 145 cusecs. The Renuka Sagar dam on the Malaprabha had 9.8 tmcft of water as against the full capacity of 37 tmcft. The inflow was 1,814 cusecs and the outflow 194 cusecs.
The BriefWire