Maharashtra not releasing water to Karnataka as promised: DK Shivakumar

As Karnataka reels under drought, state Water Resource Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday alleged that Maharashtra was not releasing water to Krishna river despite an agreement reached between the two states.

"We requested Maharastra government to release water as they agreed after our continuous request, but now the government is not ready to release water to Krishna river," Shivakumar said.

The minister informed that the Karnataka government will release one thousand million cubics (TMC) of water to help the people deal with the crisis.

He said, "For the benefit of the farmers and people of Kagwad and Athani, we are releasing last one TMC live storage."

The state government has, so far, declared more than 3,000 regions to be highly affected by drinking water scarcity.

According to the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, 138 out of a total of 176 talukas in Karnataka have a low groundwater level. Bagepalli, Chikkaballapura, Sidlaghatta, Bangarpet and Kolar are among the worst affected talukas.

The state government, in December last year, declared 156 out of the 176 talukas as drought-hit due to failed Monsoon.