

Mumbai/NASHIK: A day after Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court refused to grant stay or reconsider its decision over release of water from dams in Nashik district to the Jayakwadi dam in Marathwada , the state government has decided to release water from Saturday evening.

State officials said that the water will be released from the Karanjwan, Gangapur, Bhandardara and Mula dams.

The state government has instructed water resource department (WRD) officials to take precautions to ensure that water is not lost during transportation. The Jayakwadi dam is situated 100 km from these water reservoirs.

The quantum of the water released from the four dams and the number of days it would take to reach Jayakwadi was being calculated till late evening.

Citing practical difficulties in conveying the water to Jayakwadi and low water stock available in dams in Nashik, the state government had on Friday pleaded before the court for reconsideration of its decision. The high court dismissed the review petition filed by the government on the court's April 24 order asking it to release water into Jayakwadi reservoir from its upstream dams within 48 hours.

Officials said that load shedding hours will have to be increased in the catchment area of Nashik dams to implement the decision. The Nashik district superintendent has been asked to ensure adequate law and order arrangements are in place. The Nashik divisional commissioner also held a review meeting with district officials in this regard.

Ravindra Jadhav, divisional revenue commissioner of Nashik, had called a meeting of water resource department officials from Nashik and Ahmednagar districts to review the live and dead stock of water, capacity of dams and the estimated transit losses in event of water being released.

Government officials met in Nashik on Saturday and decided to calculate the availability of water, vaporization and transit losses. The meeting was attended by district collector Vilas Patil, executive engineer of water resource department A N Mhaske and others.

Jadhav said, "The high court has rejected the government's review petition and ordered it to release water for the Marathwada region from the dams in Nashik and Ahmednagar districts. Accordingly, we had convened a meeting and the officials from the water resource department have been instructed to calculate the live and dead stock, present reservation in dams, along with vaporization and transit loss. The report submitted by the officials will be sent to the state government. The engineers from Gangapur, Mula, Bhandardara and Karanjvan dams are studying the present scenario of water reservoirs. They will soon submit their report."

On Wednesday, the bench comprising justices Naresh H Patil and A V Nirgude had ordered the release of water, following a hearing on the petition filed by the Marathwada Janata Vikas Parishad. The bench also directed other authorities concerned, including the superintendents of police, to provide adequate protection to ensure that the water reaches Jayakwadi dam.

(With inputs from the Mumbai bureau)

