Bengaluru, Aug. 3 -- Karnataka Minister MB Patil on Sunday said that the floods in Maharashtra's Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur districts--located in the Krishna basin--were a result of the simultaneous release of water from the Koyna, Rajapur and other dams, along with rampant encroachments.

He cited a report by an expert committee constituted by the Maharashtra government, which confirmed this finding and clarified that the floods had nothing to do with the height of Karnataka's Alamatti and Hipparagi dams.

Patil reminded that the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal had authorised Karnataka to raise the Alamatti dam's height from 519.60 metres to 524.56 metres.

"The Maharashtra government, which never objected to this decision so far, has n...