Protesters demand release of Tata dam water

Pimpri Chinchwad: Solapur and Lonavla residents held an agitation at the Tata Power dam in Valvan on Saturday, demanding that water from the reservoirs be released for drought-affected areas.
Activist Praful Kadam, who led the protesters, said, "Tata Power controls about 48.97 TMC water in its six dams, including Valvan, Mulshi, Maval, Lonavala, Thokalwadi and Shirota.This water must be released for drought-affected people in the state. The chief minister must take a stand."
Kadam claimed that water released by Tata Power could be supplied to two crore drought-affected people and could irrigate about four lakh hectare additional farmland .
Meanwhile, Tata Power released a statement saying that the company was "sensitive" towards the drought. "Tata Power officials are in touch with irrigation officials from Pune and Raigad districts to decide the water usage pattern while considering all the stakeholders, impacted areas and power generation requirement," the statement said.
It further said, "Tata Power lakes cater to various requirements like drinking water (for villages around lakes, Kusgaon and Karla drinking water schemes, Lonavla and Khopoli towns, parts of Ulhasnagar, Badlapur suburbs, villages along the Patalganga river), irrigation requirements in Karjat, Kolad, Roha, Mulshi, Paud areas and industrial requirements in Patalganga, Rasayani, Roha, Badlapur area."
These lakes were established by the founders of Tata Power more than 100 years ago to supply power to Mumbai. Over the years, the lakes became multipurpose, in addition to fulfilling the main purpose of supplying peak power to Mumbai.