BELAGAVI: The Karnataka and Maharashtra governments’ efforts to keep a tab on the inflow and outflow from dams on both sides of the border has been successful so far in preventing floods in many flood-prone areas across the North Karnataka region.
Although the water levels of the Krishna river and Almatti Dam rose drastically in the past few days, officials of the Water Resources Department on both sides of the border have maintained the level of Almatti, keeping the outflow and inflow at 2.5 lakh cusecs since Wednesday.
After North Karnataka faced severe floods due to the release of a huge amount of water from Koyna dam in 2006 and 2019, the State Government initiated stringent measures this time to prevent a repeat. Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi said, “A senior officer from Maharashtra has been deployed to keep an eye on the release of water from dams and rivers in Karnataka.
A similar arrangement has been made in Karnataka to keep an eye on Maharashtra.” According to sources, the level at Koyna dam is still short of 13 to 14 tmcft of its maximum level. It is unlikely the region could face floods until it is full. Although, some areas in North Karnataka were flooded, mainly around the Malaprabha river belt, no other flood-prone areas were affected till now when the Krishna was in spate.
With rainfall subsiding in the past two days, sources said, the levels of most dams and rivers on both sides are under control. Water subsided in most of the flooded areas in Ramdurg and Gokak giving some respite to the people affected. The district administrations of all flood-prone areas in North Karnataka are on high alert. The deputy commissioner is holding meetings regularly with taluk-level officials to keep a tab on the situation.