Belagavi, DHNS: Maharashtra is expected to release two tmcft of water into River Krishna from Rajapur barrage through one its reservoirs beginning Saturday.

Small Scale Industries and Belagavi in-charge minister, Satish Jarkiholi, told reporters here on Friday he had no official information from Maharashtra regarding the release of water, but tentatively, water was expected to be released from Saturday.

Officials from the Water Resources Department have visited Mumbai and met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Member of Parliament Prakash Hukkeri, too, met him in this regard. Water from Maharashtra will solve the drinking water problems of districts of Belagavi, Vijayapura and Bagalkot in the Krishna basin, he said.

The quantity of the water released would be gauged as it enters Karnataka. Power supply for irrigation pumpsets along the River Krishna’s course has been disconnected and diesel pumpsets, too, would be seized to ensure that water from the Rajapur barrage is not used for irrigation, Jarkiholi said.

“Karnataka’s share of two tmcft of water is being released from Kalammawadi dam into river Doodhganga in three phases in the months of March, April and May. Until now, 0.8 tmcft had been released and the rest would be released by the end of the scheduled water release period,” Jarkiholi said.

Ministers R V Deshpande, S R Patil, Krishna Byre Gowda and Jarkiholi will take stock of the drought situation on April 19 and if possible also visit a few severely drought-affected areas in the district.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is also scheduled to visit the district on April 20 for a programme at Chikkodi and may review the drought situation, he said.