Yediyurappa reassures Fadnavis over Almatti release

Karnataka Chief Minister, B S Yediyurappa said only the quantum of water received from Maharashtra will be released from the Almatti and Narayanpur reservoirs and dismissed reports which expressed a fear of floods in Maharashtra due to the released from the state.

Sangli and Solapur are 240 kilometers away from Almatti and so, Maharashtra need not have any apprehensions about the water release. The storage in Almatti stands at 85 TMC Ft as against its full capacity of 123 TMC Ft, while that of Narayanpur was 18 TMC ft against a 33 TMC Ft capacity.

Yediyurappa said that he had spoken to the Maharashtra chief minister and reassured him over the 'misleading' reports. "Our water release will only affect our own people and will not affect Maharashtra in any manner," he said. He said that the rescue operation was being done on a war footing while announcing that the couple stranded in an inundated area for three days at Kabalapur in Belagavi have been rescued, and expressed happiness over the operation carried out by rescue agencies.

Yediyurappa said the Union Home Minister had taken special cognizance of the flood situations in the state. "I had provided two helicopters which were based at Sadalga and Chikkodi. We will make efforts to rescue all the flood-affected people and there is no shortage of equipment or funds to tackle the situation," he said responding to the serious complaints by flood-affected people at Sankeshwar town.

The Karnataka CM also said Infosys Foundation Chairperson, Sudha Murthy had provided Rs. 10 crores to the Chief Minister Flood Relief Funds and called upon philanthropists and donors to come forward to contribute towards the construction of 30,000 houses, for which almost Rs 5000 crores is required.

On a query over the financial support by the Centre, Yediyurappa said that only after reviewing the flood situation will the report will be submitted. Yediyurappa reiterated that he would continue to stay in Belagavi for the next two days and monitor the situation. He stated that after conducting a survey, measures would be initiated for the distribution of compensation in, a week's time.

Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angdi, Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore, Senior BJP leader Umesh Katti, Mp Annasaheb Jolle, MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath, Hanumanth Nirani, MLA Duryodhan Aihole, P Rajeev, Shashikala Jolle, were also present. Earlier in the day, Yediyurappa visited the relief centers in flood-hit Belagavi, Chikkodi, Hukkeri, Nippani taluks and took stock of the situation.