Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Flood situation in Gulbarga likely to take a turn for the worse

Staff Correspondent

Maharashtra may continue to release water, says Deputy Commissioner

INUNDATED: Flood waters entering the agriculture fields and submerging standing crops on the banks of the Bhima at Devalgoan Bridge near Sonna village in Gulbarga on Tuesday.

GULBARGA: The flood situation in the Bhima in Gulbarga district is taking a turn for the worse with a steady increase in the levels of the river throughout the district.

Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey who is touring the affected areas and visiting relief camps told The Hindu from Nelogi village in Jewargi taluk that the situation was under control but it may take a turn for the worse on Tuesday night after water was released from Ujjini and Veerbhatkal reservoirs.

He said according to information available from Maharashtra, they have maintained the release at 2 lakh cusecs from the two reservoirs but inflow into these reservoirs was heavy, indicating that Maharashtra would continue to release water at least till Wednesday. For about three hours, authorities in Maharashtra had stopped the release of water from the Veerbhatkal reservoir on Monday night following a drop in inflow, but they resumed the release of water from the reservoir in the early hours on Tuesday.

Mr. Pandey said although none of the villages on the banks of the river had been cut off completely, some of the villages had been partially cut off owing to the flooding.

He said the levels in the river continued to rise sharply, though not up to the original estimate. The levels in the river at Devalgoan Bridge near Afsalpur town was likely to reach the danger mark of 406 metres on Tuesday night. The present level of the river at Devalgoan Bridge was 403.20 metres and the rise in the levels of the river was more than 3 metres in the past 23 hours. The present inflow into the river was 1.55 lakh cusecs, he said. As against the expected increase in the flow into the river of 6,000 cusecs, the present increase was only 2,000 cusecs, providing some time for the authorities to step up relief operations. Mr. Pandey said six families had been moved to relief camps set up at Mannur. He said 18 relief camps had been set up in different parts of the district.

After Afsalpur taluk, bordering Maharashtra, which first tasted the fury of the floods on Monday, it was the turn of the Gulbarga and Jewargi taluks to reel under the effects of the floods with waters submerging vast tracts of agricultural land.

The Hindu pilgrim centre at Devalgangapur is expected to be engulfed by floodwaters. The floods have partially cut off communication lines between Devalgangapur and Marji Pir Darga situated on the other side of the river and also communication between Kerakarnalli, Halli, Tellur, and Bettagera. There are also reports of partial disruption of communication to Nelogi village in Jewargi taluk owing to inflow of floodwaters from the Kellur barrage .

People of these villages, who were stranded in Devalgangapur, were using private boats to cross over the flooded river. There were also some complaints of relief not reaching the stranded people at Devalgangapur. Dattu Shinde and Dattu Nagappa told The Hindu at Sangam near Devalgangapur that the Government was yet to provide boats for the transport of the stranded people.

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