Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has requested his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray to release 6 tmc water to meet the drinking needs of the drought-hit Karnataka.
Yediyurappa has requested Thackeray to release on “humanitarian” grounds 3 tmc water from the Warna/Koyna reservoirs to the Krishna river and another 3 tmc from the Ujjani reservoir to the Bhima river.
“The North Karnataka districts - Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, and Raichur - are facing acute shortage of drinking water due to onset of severe summer during early days of March 2020 itself,” Yediyurappa told Thackeray in a letter.
“Even in the past during such a situation, the Government of Maharashtra was kind enough to release water to meet the drinking water needs of both human beings and livestock during distress in drought-affected areas in Karnataka (sic).”
In all, Karnataka has declared drought in 49 taluks across 18 districts.
(Published 02 May 2020, 14:33 IST)