Bengaluru: With the state reeling under drought, Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar took to Twitter to allege that the Maharashtra government was not releasing water into the Krishna river despite an agreement between the two states.
While disclosing the "broken agreement" between the two states, Mr Shivakumar tweeted that "Earlier, based on our request, Maharashtra Govt had agreed to release water after due payment. But now they have backtracked and are not releasing water into Krishna river. This is an unexpected & shocking decision by Maharashtra Govt, especially as it concerns drinking water."
In his following tweet, the minister added, "Karnataka had also agreed for a 'Water for Water' deal, but that also has not been honoured. As it's an emergency, for the benefit of our farmers & people in especially Kagwad & Athani of Belagavi district, we are releasing 1 TMC of water from our live storage in Hidkal dam."
According to the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, 138 of the total 176 taluks have low groundwater levels. Bagepalli, Chikkaballapura, Sidlaghatta, Bangarpet and Kolar are among the worst affected taluks. The state government has, so far, declared more than 3,000 taluks highly affected by drinking water scarcity.
The government, in December last year, declared 156 out of the 176 taluks as drought-hit due to the failed monsoon.
On May 12, the Maharashtra government reportedly agreed to a barter deal after talks at the bureaucratic level. No agreement could be struckas the Model Code of Conduct is in place. As per the agreement, four TMC water from Koyna dam in Maharashtra was to flow into Chikkodi, Bagalkot and Vijayapura and water from Almatti dam in Karnataka was to flow into Maharashtra's Solapur and Jath reservoirs.
