The Harangi dam irrigation consultative committee that met here on Sunday decided to release water to canals from Sunday evening.
The meeting was presided over by Madikeri MLA Mantar Gowda. Minister in charge of Mysuru district H.C. Mahadevappa and Minister in charge of Chamarajanagar district K. Venkatesh were present.
As there is 30 per cent deficit in rain and the inflow into the dam has dropped with less than 2,000 cusecs of inflow reported since last 15 days amidst a lull in rain, the MLA said water would be released to canals for the crops for 15 days and stopped for another 15 days. “The on and off method has been employed based on water availability,” he said.
After an elaborate discussion on the storage in the dam and the inflow, the meeting decided to release water for 15 days a month considering the ground realities and forecast of rain in the coming days.
“The dam has a storage of about 7.5 tmcft. The inflow has dropped considerably since the last few days. Taking this into consideration, the meeting decided that water will be released for 15 days and stopped for another 15 days,” Mr. Gowda said.