BELAGAVI: With North Karnataka facing the wrath of floods for nearly 10 days now, experts believe it is more of a manmade disaster than nature’s fury.
While heavy rain in the Krishna basin in Maharashtra and the subsequent release of water from its dams are the major reasons for the catastrophe, experts believe that regulated water discharge could have reduced the intensity of the floods.
The tussle between Karnataka and Maharashtra over sharing of dam waters has taken its toll on people living in the Krishna basin.
According to Karnataka, Maharashtra’s stand against releasing water in May and June, a massive discharge of water during the monsoon and failure to make judicious use of its dam waters are causing floods of this magnitude in the Krishna river basin, affecting the districts of Belagavi, Bagalkot, Raichur, Yadgir and Vijayapura. And Karnataka continues to grapple with the disaster time and again, instead of finding a lasting solution.
A decades-old demand for shifting of all flood-prone villages from the Krishna banks in North Karnataka, and increasing the height of about 25 low-lying bridges and roads has been put on the backburner.
At least 500 villages in the basin and 1.5 lakh hectares of land have been badly flooded this time and irrigation experts say these are the worst-ever floods in Karnataka in 45 years.
Some experts say the floods would not have been so severe had Maharashtra coordinated with Karnataka on the release of its dam waters, with the onset of the monsoon.
Official sources said the neighbouring state did keep the water resources department informed about water release at regular intervals, but what caused flooding was the incessant and heavy rain in the Krishna basin in Karnataka, which led to the release of excessive water from all dams in the basin, including Koyna, Almatti and Narayanpur.
Activist Ashok Chandargi, who is in the forefront of campaigns for the implementation of inter-state water projects, said, “Maharashtra was unwilling to release Karnataka’s share of 4 tmcft of water from Koyna in May and June, when the dam had a little more than 50% water in it. Maharashtra is not ready to implement major irrigation projects in its Krishna basin, which will help divert water from the Koyna, to avoid such a calamity."
"Floods would not have been so devastating if Maharashtra and Karnataka had worked out alternatives to ensure the release of water from Koyna before the monsoon.’’
With no other way to divert excess water from the Koyna, Maharashtra is left with no choice but to release it into the Krishna, which leads to floods in Karnataka.
According to another expert, Koyna, Radhanagari and Warna, the three big dams in the Krishna basin in Maharashtra, were almost 100% full by August 5.
“I am unable to understand why Maharashtra did not start releasing water by July 25, when they were 50% full. If these dams had started releasing water, they would have had sufficient space in the first week of August and the floods would not have been so catastrophic in Karnataka."
"The Kumaraswamy government and the then opposition leaders had repeatedly appealed to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis to release water in May and June, to help tide over drought. But Maharashtra did not release water,’’ the expert added.
Maharashtra is insisting that Karnataka sign water-sharing agreement, assuring the release of 4 tmcft of water in return for the same amount of water.
After releasing 4 tmcft of water to Karnataka from Koyna, charging Rs 1.5 crore/tmcft for several years until 2014, Maharashtra abruptly halted it and decided against releasing water until the agreement was signed.
However, Karnataka remained non-committal on the issue as it did not have the facility to store this water. Unfortunately, both states did not wake up from their stupor even after the 2005 floods.
Former Chief Engineer (Irrigation) KF Hulkund dismisses claims Maharashtra’s failure to release 4 tmcft to Karnataka and a bigger quantity of water to other sources, led to the floods.
“It is impossible to prevent such a natural calamity... Do you think the release of 4 or even 10 tmcft of water from Koyna earlier could have prevented the floods? There’s no diplomatic solution to it, nor can any water-sharing agreement stop this kind of disaster. More than 100 tmcft has already flown from dams into the Krishna, causing the floods. It is impossible for any government to hold this quantum of water. It is a natural disaster and nobody is responsible for it,” he adds.
