VIJAYAPURA: Karnataka Minister for Large Industries MB Patil has made serious allegations against the Maharashtra government accusing it of illegally storing nearly 50 tmcft of additional water over and above its allocation under Bachawat Award. “This is only our rough estimate as we dont have clear information about the total storage. We think that Maharashtra has stored more than 50 tmcft of water,” Patil, who is also Vijayapura district in-charge minister, told the media.
Patil said that the Maharashtra government has stored more water either by increasing the height of their dams or constructing smaller reservoirs to store the water. “The Maharashtra government has not even informed this to the Central Water Commission which is a statutory body on monitoring inter-state water sharing issues,” he said.
The minister also alleged that the Maharashtra government did not cooperate with officials of Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited which had gone to check the fact on that state storing more water. Patil said he will discuss it with CM Siddaramaiah on exploring the possibilities to raise the contentions of Karnataka. “We will see the possibilities of conveying the matter to the Union government and the Central Water Commission to get justice to our state,” he said.