This is an archive article published on July 23, 2021
Pune: River levels rise as more water discharged from Koyna dam, Kolhapur and Sangli on alert
The district collectorate said in the past 24 hours, the Koyna dam catchment area has received 700 mm of rain, which has forced the Irrigation department to release more water from the dam.
Kolhapur and Sangli are also on alert to avoid a 2019-like situation when floods wreaked havoc in the area | Express photo
As the torrential rain eased on Friday, relief and rescue operations began in the worst affected Chiplun taluka of Ratnagiri district. Meanwhile, the districts of Kolhapur and Sangli have been put on alert to avoid a situation similar to 2019, when floods had wreaked havoc here.
“The discharge from Koyna dam, which is 10,000 cusecs, will be increased by 50,000 cusecs till evening. This will lead to rising water levels in Krishna river. We have already sounded alert in 104 villages along the river. In fact, evacuation of the villagers to safer places has already begun,” Sangli District Collector Abhijit Chaudhary told The Indian Express.
The district collectorate said in the past 24 hours, the Koyna dam catchment area has received 700 mm of rain, which has forced the Irrigation department to release more water from the dam. “We are on alert and ready to tackle the situation…,” said Chaudhary.
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Kolhapur District Collector Rahul Rekhawar said, “We have already sounded an alert to villages along the Panchganga river. Since the discharge from Koyna dam as well as Almatti dam is being increased, we expect the situation to escalate in the evening, but we have already taken necessary steps to ensure that things remain under control.”
Rekhwar said while the district administration was expecting a situation like 2019 again, “we already have plans in place to ensure safety of citizens”.
Villages such as Prayag Chikhali, Ambewadi and Aarey are very likely to get affected and traffic through Kognoli on the Pune-Banglore highway to access Chandgad, Aajara and Gadhinglaj has been diverted.
Kolhapur’s Guardian Minister Satej Patil told The Indian Express, “Nearly 300 villages in Kolhapur district have been put on alert. Villages which were completely submerged in 2019 are being evacuated. In fact, a couple of villages have already been evacuated 100 per cent. In a few others, 70 per cent evacuation has taken place.”
Patil said, “Besides Koyna, discharge from Almatti dam in Kolhapur is also set to be increased from 1.5 lakh cusecs to 2.5 lakh cusecs. This will also affect rivers in Kolhapur, which will get more flooded.”
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Appealing to people from Kolhapur to not venture out unless it was an emergency, Patil assured that the administration was taking every possible step to ensure that people do not suffer.
Patil said he has directed the district administration to shift people and livestock affected due to the flooding to safer places immediately. He has also directed that traffic be diverted through Kognoli on the Pune-Banglore highway. “Traffic on the Pune-Bangalore highway has been affected as stretches in Kolhapur have been flooded…,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kolhapur South MLA Ruturaj Paitl visited the submerged area of Ramanand Nagar and sought help of the Fire Brigade to rescue stranded people. He also ventured into the water using mechanised boats and helped rescue some people, especially children. In areas such as Dutt Colony, Malhar Complex, Khandoba temple and Jadhav Park in south Kolhapur, more than 150 houses were under water.
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Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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Villages such as Prayag Chikhali, Ambewadi and Aarey are very likely to get affected and traffic through Kognoli on the Pune-Banglore highway to access Chandgad, Aajara and Gadhinglaj has been diverted.
