BIDAR: Maharashtra is releasing more water into the State's rivers than what it claims to. Such unregulated release causes floods. It affects the State's preparations to reduce the flood damage. The State has complained to the Prime Minister that Maharashtra is creating a manmade calamity, Minister for Water Resources M. Mallikarjun Kharge said here on Saturday.

Addressing presspersons, Mr. Kharge said Maharashtra had said that it will release two lakh cusecs of water into the Bheema from the Koyna dam. But it has released over seven lakh cusecs of water. This led to floods that caused death and destruction in Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot and Gulbarga districts. It is doing the same in Bidar. They claim to have released only 6,000 cusecs of water into the Manjra, Mr. Kharge said.

Earlier, he spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and requested him to regulate the release of water. Mr. Kharge told him in Marathi: "Sharad Pawar (Union Agriculture Minister) caused the water release from the Koyna dam. You are causing the water release in Latur. These releases have caused destruction (Yeh amcha tabahi kelao) in the State."

Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh said that he will lead an all-party delegation to the Centre to seek release of additional funds for providing relief to the flood-affected on the lines of compensation given to tsunami victims.

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