Karnataka rivers in spate after record monsoon rains
Bengaluru, July 23 : Rivers in Karnataka are in spate following record southwest monsoon rains over the last seven weeks, inundating low-lying areas, submerging road bridges and flooding farmlands, said an official on Monday.
"Heavy monsoon rains over coastal and Malnad regions since June have led to the reservoirs filling to their maximum levels and flooding the low-lying areas," Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) Director G.S. Srinivasa Reddy told IANS here.
Major reservoirs in the Cauvery basin like the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) in Mandya district, Kabini reservoir in Mysuru district across Kabini river, one of the major tributaries of Cauvery, and others have received water to their maximum capacity.
"With good rains in the catchment areas, the reservoirs are in a good condition. The state will not have the fear of facing a hydrological drought (due to low water supply in reservoirs or ground levels)," Reddy added.
Even as the state has received a 13 per cent excess monsoon rainfall till date since June 4 when the southwest monsoon set in over Karnataka, the distribution of rainfall has been uneven with south interior and northern districts continuing to face a rainfall deficit.
The southern districts of Chamarajanagar and Chikkaballapura and the northern districts of Ballari, Haveri, Vijayapura and Yadgir face a shortage of rainfall, according to the data from India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Bengaluru centre.
If the state does not receive good rains in August, nearly 50 per cent of Karnataka will have to face a drought as the rain-fed crops will not have enough water to grow, Reddy said.
"The KSNDMC has been receiving calls from several farmers in the south interior and northern districts that their crops are reaching a wilting stage. A large part of the state could see a drought without good rains ahead," he added.
With the state's reservoirs receiving water more than their capacity, Karnataka has been diverting the excess water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu for the past few weeks.
Happy over the excess rains filling the reservoirs, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who performed religious rituals and offered prayers at the KRS reservoir last week, said: "Good rain is nature's solution to Cauvery issue."
The apex court on February 16 increased Karnataka's share of water by 14.75 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) to 284.75 from 270 tmc and lowered Tamil Nadu's share to 404.25 tmc from 419 tmc.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
