Officials will start releasing water on Thursday from the Malaprabha Dam for two weeks to meet the drinking water needs of downstream villages and towns in Belagavi district.
Minister for Women and Child Welfare and chairperson of the Malaprabha Irrigation Consultative Committee Lakshmi Hebbalkar announced at a meeting of committee members and officials that the water release will also help farmers by supporting their crops that are drying up.
Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil asked officials to release water keeping in mind the fact that the storage should suffice till June 2024.
Member of Legislative Assembly N.H. Konareddi demanded that water be released immediately. The State government has declared drought in most of the command area taluks. Irrigation officials should opt for a staggered release of water, he said.
Member of Legislative Assembly Vishwas Vaidya demanded water release saying that farmers have no water to supply to their cattle or crops.
Member of Legislative Council Channaraj Hattiholi said that water release should be based on availability.
Chief Engineer Ashok Vasanad, Superintendent Engineer and committee member-secretary V.S. Madhukar, Water Users Society chairman Sadugouda Patil, Superintendent of Police Bheemashankar Guled and other officials and members were present.
Meanwhile, the Renuka Sagar Dam at Navilu Teertha near Saundatti recorded storage of 21.44 tmcft of water against a gross capacity of 37.73 tmcft. It has no inflow, but the outflow was 194 cusecs till Wednesday.
Last year, on the same day, the dam had 34.34 tmcft of water with an inflow of 1,794 cusecs.
