Saturday, September 3 2005 15:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Karnataka today (Sept 3, 2005) flatly rejected Maharashtra's request for restricting water storage at Almatti reservoir, asserting that the floods caused in the districts of Sangli and Kolhapur in the neighbouring state was not due to 'pressure' from the dam's backwaters.

"The suggestion by Maharashtra to the state to maintain Almatti water storage at 509 mtrs level is totally unacceptable", Chief Minister N Dharam Singh declared at a press conferencein Bangalore.

Maharastra has "No case either in law or in terms of equity or merits to seek depletion or reduction of storage as such a measure would seriously affect crops in lakhs of hectares in Gulbarga, Raichur, Bijapur and Bagalkot districts", Singh said.

Karnataka has authority and permission to retain the water level up to 519.60 meters as per the Supreme Court decision and also as per the formal approval accorded by the Planning Commission in 2000, he maintained.

Denying that the backwaters of Almatti triggered off floods in Maharashtra and linking the natural calamity to heavy rains, Singh also asserted that while Karnataka tendered all technical details to the Central Water Commission proving that backwater effect dissipates well within the state, the aggrieved state has not shared any studies in this regard.

He admitted that Union Water Resources Minister P R Munshi has written to him requesting to consider reduction in water storage only as a 'short term measure' till this month end and on humanitarian grounds.