Days after the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Maharashtra agreed on a water-sharing agreement, Maharashtra allegedly went back on its word.
Karnataka Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday tweeted the development concerning the Krishna river. He said, “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.”
“Karnataka Govt 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,” the minister added in a subsequent tweet.
Earlier, based on our request, Maharashtra Govt had agreed to release water after due payment.
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) May 18, 2019
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.
On May 4, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had tweeted, “I appreciate Maharashtra Govt's move to release water to Karnataka. Govt of Karnataka had written to Govt of Maharashtra seeking release of water to address the acute drinking water problem in districts of North Ktka. Maha. Govt has responded positively for the state's request.”
I appreciate Maharashtra Govt's move to release water to Karnataka.
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) May 4, 2019
Govt of Karnataka had written to Govt of Maharashtra seeking release of water to address the acute drinking water problem in districts of North Ktka. Maha. Govt has responded positively for the state's request.
On May 12, the Maharashtra government reportedly had agreed on a barter deal after multiple rounds of talks at the bureaucratic level. No formal agreement could be done as the Model Code of Conduct is in place.
As per the agreement, 4 TMC of water from the Koyna dam in Maharashtra will flow to Chikkodi, Bagalkot and Vijayapura in Karnataka, and water from the Almatti dam in Karnataka will flow to Maharashtra’s Solapur and Jath.
DK Shivakumar’s tweet comes on the same day the Centre issued a drought advisory to the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with the water levels of dams in these states dipping to critical levels. 31 reservoirs in these states have waters at an alarmingly low depth.
"The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.86 BCM, which is 13% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 13% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 16 per cent," Central Water Commission (CWC) said.