Irrigation dept bans water lifting from Koyna dam

Kolhapur: Sangli irrigation department has imposed a ban on lifting of water released from the Koyna dam for purposes other than drinking.The live water storage in Koyna dam has dropped to 10.29 TMC (10.28%) whereas the gross storage has dropped to 15.41 TMC (14.64%) of the total 105 TMC storage capacity.Seema Mohite, executive engineer of Sangli irrigation department, said, “The ban on water lifting will be effective between Koyna dam and Haripur limit in Sangli as per the provisions of Section 11, 49 of the Maharashtra Irrigation Act, 1976. The ban will be effective till June 7 midnight. Further planning will be made according to the prevailing situation.”The official added that if water is extracted from the Krishna river for any purpose other than drinking water supply (private) during the above period, the said extraction will be considered unauthorised, the water licence and electricity supply of the person concerned will be suspended for a period of one year, the extraction equipment will be confiscated, and further action will be taken.“Considering the limited water storage in the dam, irrigation water users should not pollute the water storage by discharging sewage/industrial water into the river. Since there is no additional water storage available to carry away the polluted water, all concerned should take precautions and cooperate to avoid water wastage,” the official said.On similar lines, the irrigation department (Kolhapur) has imposed a ban on the lifting of water from Panchaganga, Bhogavati, Kumbhi and Kasari rivers in Kolhapur district from Friday midnight until June 9. Further decisions will be taken as per the prevailing situation.