Water crisis: Maharashtra’s Sangli and Satara districts are under prohibition

KOLHAPUR: In the midst of a severe water shortage, the district administrations of Sangli and Satara on Sunday issued prohibitory orders along canals to halt water theft and to refrain from moving cow feed beyond the regions.

The previous monsoon’s lower rainfall prevented dams and other reservoirs from filling to capacity. Now that the season is almost over, the majority of the districts’ lakes and ponds have dried up.

The dams built upstream of the Krishna River and its principal tributaries, such the Warna River, are now the districts’ main sources of water. It is the dams at Koyna and Chandoli that feed Krishna. Koyna’s water capacity of 105°C is only 37% full, whereas Chandoli’s water capacity of 34°C is only 33% full.
Approximately 1,060 hamlets in both districts are now devoid of potable water. To guarantee that there is access to drinking water, the administrations have each sent out close to 250 water tankers.

Raja Dayanidhi, the district collector for Sangli, said on Sunday that “Due to a shortage of water, we are currently experiencing a moderate drought.” In order to guarantee that water is made accessible for the district, we have chosen to enforce prohibitory measures until the end of May.

According to the directives, gatherings of two or more people are not permitted inside the 200-meter radius around the canals.”
In situations of public emergency, prohibitory decrees are often used, Dayanidhi said.
For the canals that rely on the Tembu lift irrigation project, the Arphal scheme, the Krishna lift scheme, and the Mhaisal lift irrigation scheme, prohibitory orders have been issued so far.

Eighty percent of the Sangli area is supplied with water by these lift irrigation facilities. The canals now contain the discharged water from the dams. The wells and borewells are replenished throughout the 15-day discharge cycle. To keep an eye on these activities occurring along the canals within their separate jurisdictions, the government has sent out night squads.

Representatives from the public recently urged that irrigation canals in the Sangli area be supplied with 11 TMC of water from the Koyna dam, which is set aside for the production of electricity.
“The situation has mostly surfaced in the tehsils of Atpadi and Jat. Water tanks for drinking water have been dispatched. We had enough of feed for the cattle since we had prepared beforehand. For the next three and a half months, we have feed supplies accessible,” Raja said.