Karnataka and Maharashtra have agreed to depute irrigation officers to coordinate with each other.
“Our officer will be posted to their reservoirs. One of their officers will be deputed to our dams. This will improve our real time communication,” Irrigation Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi said at a meeting of officers in Belagavi on Friday.
A senior officer will be deputed to Koyna dam in Maharashtra. A Maharashtra officer will be posted in Alamatti dam. This will ensure that most of the important decisions taken in the catchment and command areas of the Krishna will be made known immediately, he said.
Officers assured him that most reservoirs were yet to be filled and there was no threat of flooding as of now.
The Minister asked officers to fill tanks and lakes before the impounded water was released into the river .
Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath said that relief centres would be set up in the villages that were likely to be affected based on the flooding data of last year.
Irrigation police and other officers were present.
Inflow up
The Navilu teertha dam on the Malaprabha is nearly full and officers plan to open the flood gates of the reservoir any moment.
Irrigation officers issued a warning to farmers in low lying areas and those on the river bank asking them to move to areas of higher altitude.
The dam, that has a gross capacity of 37 tmc ft, now has live storage of around 25 tmc ft.
Inflow has increased to 35,000 cusecs and the initial outflow is plugged at 664 cusecs. This could go up depending on higher inflow, acceleration of the river stream and condition of the dam, officers said.
Rainfall subsided in Belagavi city by Friday. But rainfall in Khanapur and surrounding catchment areas led to an influx of water into the Malaprabha and the Markandeya and the Ballari Nala rivulet.
Police closed the inter-State bridge at Kudachi village after water began to flow over it following release from Maharashtra.
Irrigation officers estimated that around 1.51 lakh cusecs of water was released from Maharashtra to Krishna and its tributaries.