Don't give Koyna water to Karnataka now: Shiv sena MLA urges Maharashtra CM
Maharashtra govt. had agreed to release 2 tmc ft of water to Karnataka
Mumbai, May 9: A Shiv Sena MLA from Satara district has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, urging him not to release water from Koyna river to Karnataka, saying the stock in Koyna dam is low due to scanty rainfall last year.
Koyna dam is built on the Koyna river, which originates in Satara district. It is the largest tributary of the Krishna river that flows down to Karnataka.
"The inadequate showers in 2018 led to the current water stock in Koyna dam go down to 34.89 TMC, which is 4.49 TMC less as compared to 2017," Shambhuraj Desai, Sena MLA from Patan assembly segment of Satara district, wrote in the letter to the chief minister.
"The Maharashtra government has already given water (to Karnataka) from Koyna dam as per the water distribution treaty. The water stock is also less as compared to last year.
Therefore, the state should use the remaining stock judiciously. It should not release more water into Koyna basin for Karnataka," he added.
"If we release water for Karnataka, we may not have it for our people in the coming days. The monsoon season is still more than a month away," the legislator said.
Earlier, according to sources, officials of the Water Resources Department in Maharashtra had decided to release 2 tmc ft of water from either from Koyna or Varna dam to Karnataka.
Several parts of Maharashtra, including Patan tehsil, are facing water scarcity and there is a need to save water for people, he said.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
