PUNE: With 11 more deaths in the Pune division between Thursday and Wednesday, the updated death toll due to floods in Pune division which includes Pune, Solapur, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli districts, on Thursday evening reached 27. The district administration officials said that the flood situation in Kolhapur has improved as on Thursday, but worsened in Sangli after the water level rose by 9 inches.
Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar on Thursday said that the flood water in Kolhapur was receding slowly. “However, the situation will depend on the rainfall in Kolhapur and other catchment areas. The water level in Sangli has increased to around 54 feet.”
“We are able to control water of Bhima Basin but Krishna basin and Koyna reservoir is yet to be controlled,” added Mhaisekar.
Speaking on the rise of water level in Sangli, the divisional commissioner said that the water released from the dams reached Sangli on Thursday causing the water level to rise further. “We are controlling the discharge of water to reduce the water level in Sangli. We have reduced the discharged from Koyna dam. Earlier, it was 75,000 cusecs and now it is 69,000 cusecs. The dam has reached to about 97.4 per cent of its capacity and we hope that water level in Sangli reduces,” added Mhaisekar.
Speaking on the road connectivity, Mhaisekar said that Kolhapur remains inaccessible through road and Sangli is accessible through the road. “The road connectivity to Kolhapur through Pune-Bengaluru Highway is lost owing to excess flooding in at least three places between Pune and Kolhapur. Likewise, we have lost contact with the Belagavi side owing to the deluge and the situation will remain the same till Friday. As Sangli is connected via road, we are able to mobilise our rescue teams but we are facing problems in Kolhapur. About 18,000 people are still stranded in Kolhapur and 30,000 in Sangli. The rescue operations are on and we have kept two helicopters on stand by mode. As IMD as issued three-day red alert, we will have to be on our toes to handle the situation and hence,all agencies are connected and the situation is reviewed on an hourly basis,” added Mhaisekar.
RESCUE AND RELIEF OPERATION
Speaking on the relief operation, Mhaisekar said that about 73,000 more persons were rescued on Wedneday and Thursday, taking the total number of persons rescued to around 2.05 lakh in Pune division. About 330 rescue centres are in operation which are looking after the rescue operation.
“Currently, our only aim is to rescue people. Many people are coming ahead and we are able to provide food and basic amenities to rescued people. Organisations are coming ahead and donating biscuits and milk powder which is commendable. As people have no provisions to utilize kerosene, people are demanding more candles and we are trying to provide the same to the affected people. We are in touch with the Centre and state along with army, navy and airforce for immediate help from the forces,” added Mhaisekar.
FLOOD CONTROL MEASURES
The divisional commissioner said that Karnataka government has agreed to increase discharge from Almatti dam, however as Northern Karnataka is facing a similar flood situation, the Karnataka government has not informed at what time they will be in a position to increase the discharge.
“On Wednesday, the State government had asked the Karnataka government to increased the discharge from Almatti dam to 4.5 lakh cusecs to ease the flood pressure in Kolhapur and Sangli districts. The Karnataka government has shown positive signs and will inform Maharashtra government about increasing the discharge from
Almatti, once the situation in Northern Karnataka improves. If discharge from Almatti is increased, it will lead to floods in Raichur district. Currently, the discharge from Almatti is about 3.55 lakh cusecs and the inflow in the dam is about 3.36 lakh cusecs,” added Mhaisekar
“I spoke with Home Minister Amit Shah and also Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, and the latter has agreed to release 500,000 cusecs of water from the Almatti Dam which will bring relief to waterlogged Sangli,” CM Devendra Fadnavis said.
TWO MORE DEATHS IN PUNE
Officials of the district administration said that on Wednesday and Thursday, two more deaths were reported in Pune district.
Kaushlya Chandrakant and Kabal Khan got washed away in flood water in Purandar and Daund taluka, respectively. The death toll due to floods in Pune has reached 6.
NO ELECTRICITY
About 3.96 lakh people in Pune division continue to be cut off from electricity supply, either due to shut down of transformers or damage of transformers due to flooding.
