Almatti dam reaches its brim as Krishna river in spate

Hubballi: The Almatti reservoir built across River Krishna has reached the maximum level due to heavy rainfall in Maharashtra.

With inflow of 1.73 lakh cusecs water every day, an equal amount of water is being released into the Narayanpur dam  downstream of the reservoir. The present level in Almatti dam is 518.73 metre as against its maximum capacity of 519.60 metre.

Heavy inflow of water has led to generation of power to the full capacity of 290 MW per day from all six power generating units since the last ten days. Release of 45,000 cusecs water will help produce maximum power generation. Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) officials said that the present storage of water in Almatti dam is 108 tmc.

All 26 crest gates of the dam have been opened to release water into the downstream dam. Heavy outflow of water is posing a threat to the people living in the river basin. The district administration has convened a meeting of officials to cope with the flood situation and move the flood victims to safer places.

Several standing crops including maize and sugarcane are inundated in the flood water in Madanamatti, Halingali, Tamadaddi and Aski villages which are situated on the banks of Krishna river in Rabakavi-Banahatti taluk. Thousands of people are in severe hardship due to the backwaters of the Hipparagi barrage which have reached the brim. The officials have warned that the situation will worsen if the flow of water continues for the next 2-3 days.

Meanwhile, farmers are demanding rehabilitation measures and shifting of the villages besides raising of the dam height to 524 metres from present 519.6 metres. They claimed that this will provide irrigation facilities to the farmers in both Bagalkot and Vijayapura which are prone to drought despite several rivers  flowing through the twin districts.