6 gates of Koyna dam opened to release water

KOLHAPUR: One of the largest dams in the state, Koyna, began discharging water for the first time this monsoon on Sunday morning. Water is being released at a rate of 17,500 cusecs (cubic foot per second) through the gates of the power house at the base of the dam.
"Koyna, Nawaja, Mahabaleshwar, Pratapgad, Sonat, Bamnoli, Kathi and Walwan are prominent catchments of the Koyna dam.The inflow is 42,500 cusec and hence, we decided to release the water through the lower gates. We have opened six curved gates of the Koyna dam on Sunday, which might flood the downstream areas in Satara and Sangli district. We have intimated the district administrations about the same," said Dnyaneshwar Bagade, executive engineer of Koyna dam management.
"We have started taking precautionary measures and have alerted the downstream villages. The flood levels are continuously monitored and if required, we will evacuate the people living near the Koyna and Krishna rivers," said Ramhari Bhosale, Karad tehsildar.
In Wai, the district administration started forceful evacuation as people living by Krishna river were not ready to move out of their homes. As many as 150 families from 15 villages in Wai taluka were shifted to safer places by tehsildar Atul Mhetre, who monitored the evacuation. The evacuation was started as the Dhom dam is discharging 5,000 cusec of water since Friday evening.
Shirala, the western area of Sangli district, has received heavy rainfall in past five days. Warna dam, located in Chandoli in Shirala taluka, has started discharging 11,000 cusec water. This has led to an increase of the Krishna river level in Sangli.
Sangli collector Shekhar Gaikwad has closed Irwin bridge in Sangli city from Friday evening as a precautionary measure. The bridge is 86 years old and the decision was taken on the backdrop of the recent Mahad bridge collapse incident.
Radhanagari dam in Kolhapur district was releasing 2,200 cusec of water, but the automated gates were shut after the rainfall reduced to some extent. However, heavy showers in the catchment area of the Panchganga cused the river to swell above danger level of 43 ft at around 6.30pm on Saturday.
This is second time, the Panchganga is flowing above danger level this monsoon.
On July 11, the river crossed the danger mark. The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation has evacuated 53 people living by the riverside so far and the evacuation may start again by late night, the civic officials said.
(With inputs from Ram Jagtap in Karad and Atul Deshpande in Satara)