Aurangabad Sep 28 PTI As many as 459 people were rescued from flood-affected areas in the last 48 hours across Osmanabad district of Maharashtra and the National Disaster Response Force NDRF even deployed a helicopter to reach those stranded in floodwaters officials said on Tuesday evening Water was released from Manjara dam during the day causing flooding in downstream villages and parts of neighbouring districts they said Six persons including two children were rescued by the NDRF by deploying a helicopter at Dautpur village in Osmanabad tehsil while ten persons were similarly rescued from Saundane Amba village in Kalamb tehsil The Osmanabad-Ausa road was blocked as water was flowing over the Kamegaon-Samudrawani bridge The Manjara dam was filled to the capacity which necessitated opening of eighteen gates of the dam an official saidTwenty persons were rescued from a house in Wakadwadi village of Kalamb tehsil Some 125 persons were rescued in Ramwadi 114 in Irla 35 each in Ter and Borkheda and 90 in Dautpur the official saidBalaji Kamble 30 resident of Irla was washed away and search was on for him At least 20 big and 17 small cattle perished in the floods while 80 huts were damagedTwo teams of NDRF participated in the rescue operationsThe collector of the neighbouring Latur district Prithviraj B P told PTI that a family of three including a child was reportedly stranded at Pohregaon in Renapur tehsil of the district but rescue teams could not reach the spot due to the bad weather and low visibilityWe are trying other ways to rescue them The helicopter used by the NDRF has halted in Latur It will fly tomorrow morning to rescue them he saidThe Osmanabad district has received 82490 mm of average rainfall this monsoon 204 mm higher than the 62060 mm recorded last year with Bhoom tehsil receiving 96160 mm rain this season so far an official saidAfter several years the district part of the generally parched Marathwada region has received such robust rain which stands at 13678 per cent of the annual average he addedDams like Sinakolegaon Chandani Manjara Terna Lower Terna Ruibhar Kurnoor and Bori are overflowing Ujani Dam which is the main source of water for Osmanabad city is also overflowing Heavy rains have affected Kharif crops like soybean moong urad tur cotton and bajra he said PTI AW BMN KRK KRK

Aurangabad Sep 28 PTI The water storage in Jayakwadi Dam in Maharashtras Aurangabad district on Tuesday reached a little over 87 per cent of capacity on the back of extremely heavy rains in the region over the past couple of days an official said The dam built on the Godavari river in the districts Paithan taluka has a storage capacity of 2909 million metre cube The water inflow of the dam which was 15481 cusecs cubic foot per second in the morning on Tuesday reached 28753 cusecs in the afternoon and 64653 cusecs by 6pm he said Meanwhile in a video message released during the day Collector Sunil Chavan said such heavy rain-fed inflow of water into the dam may result in it reaching full capacity in the next five days He asked people in villages in the vicinity and along the banks of the river to shift to safer places The collector said storage in Shivna Takli Dam in the districts Kannad area was also full and water discharge may be required to maintain its level PTI AW BNM BNM BNM

Aurangabad Sep 28 PTI As many as 16 persons stranded in floodwaters were rescued by the National Disaster Response Force NDRF using a helicopter in Maharashtras Osmanabad district on Tuesday officials saidThe district and other parts of the Marathwada region have been lashed by rains in the last two daysSix persons including two children were rescued by the helicopter from Dautpur village in Osmanabad tehsil while ten persons were rescued from Saundane Amba village in Kalamb tehsil The collector of the neighbouring Latur district Prithviraj B P told PTI that a family of three including a child was reportedly stranded at Pohregaon in Renapur tehsil of the district but rescue teams could not reach the spot due to the bad weather and low visibility We are trying other ways to rescue them The helicopter has halted in Latur It will fly tomorrow morning to rescue them he said The Osmanabad district has received 82490 mm of average rainfall this monsoon 204 mm higher than the 62060 mm recorded last year with Bhoom tehsil receiving 96160 mm rain this season so far an official saidAfter several years the district part of the generally parched Marathwada region has received such robust rain which stands at 13678 per cent of the annual average he addedDams like Sinakolegaon Chandani Manjra Terna Lower Terna Ruibhar Kurnoor and Bori are overflowing Ujani Dam which is the main source of water for Osmanabad city is also overflowing Heavy rains have affected Kharif crops like soybean moong urad tur cotton and bajra he said The Osmanabad-Ausa road was blocked as water was flowing over the Kamegaon-Samudrawani bridge with vehicles stranded on both sides for several hours the official said PTI AW KRK KRK

Aurangabad Sep 28 PTI Heavy rainfall in catchment areas of the Manjara dam forced authorities to open all 18 gates of the reservoir to discharge water on Tuesday which led to flooding in some villages of Maharashtras Beed district while an alert was sounded in some neighbouring districts officials said Several families from the affected villages were shifted to safer places they said adding that so far there was no report of any casualty After heavy rains on Monday night the Manjara and Majalgaon dams in Beed were filled up to their maximum capacity The local administration opened all 18 gates of the Manjara dam and 11 gates of the Majalgaon dam early Tuesday morning resulting in discharge of 78397 cusec 80534 cusec water from them respectively officials said The discharge of water from the Manjara dam led to flooding in villages under Kaij and Ambajogai talukas of Beed district Ambajogai tehsildar Vipin Patil told PTI Villages like Isthal in Kaij taluka Apegaon Tadola Kopra Anjanpur Deora Tat Borgaon Akola all in Ambajogai taluka located on the Manjara river banks were facing flooding and water-logging Nearly 110 families from some of these flood-affected areas were shifted to safer places the official said The Majalgaon irrigation departments office has also written to Beed Parbhani and Nanded collectors to sound an alert in villages located along the Sindphana and Godavari rivers in their respective areas Beed district disaster management authority official Umesh Shirke said The next 24 hours are crucial No casualty has been reported so far The district administration is on alert Beed Collector Radhabinod Sharma said adding that people were being shifted to safer places Isthal village resident Pandhari Tokle said the water began to rise in their area on Monday night The water rose up to nearly three feet Residents started shifting to safer places from 4 am on Tuesday There is no person or animal left in the village now The situation is more or less the same in the nearby Anjanpur and Apegaon villages in Ambajogai taluka he said When contacted Prithviraj B P the collector of neighbouring Latur district said 158 villages in his district could be affected by the discharge of water from the Manjara dam We are closely monitoring the situation in villages located where the course of the Manjara river changes and the site where the Terna and Manajra rivers meet he said PTI AW GK GK

Aurangabad Sep 26 PTI Maharashtra Public Works Department and a Central government agency has signed an MoU for a ropeway project which will connect the famous Mahur temple of Goddess Renuka with the Datta Shikhar hill in Nanded district The agreement was signed by a representative of WAPCOS a multinational government undertaking and consultancy firm wholly owned by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and PWD chief engineer Dilip Ukirde in Aurangabad an official said on Sunday Temples of Goddess Renuka Lord Dattatreya and Anusaya are located on the hilltop at Mahurgad A fund of Rs 51 crore has been sanctioned to connect these pilgrimage centres through a ropeway We dont possess the ropeway technology whereas the WAPCOS has it We have appointed them as the project management consultant for the Mahur Ropeway project We expect that the study tendering and project implementations should be completed in the next two-and-a-half years Ukirde told PTI He said the upcoming project will help elderly pilgrims to reach the hilltop and the temples another official said PTI AW NSK NSK

Aurangabad Sep 24 PTI Heavy rains have lashed several parts of five districts in Marathada increasing water levels in irrigation projects and dams in the region an official said on Friday At least 20 circles in five districts of Marathwada witnessed heavy rainfall on Thursday with Patoda circle in Beed district recording the highest 14525 mm rain the official said Eight circles in Beed five each in Latur and Osmanabad and one each in Nanded and Parbhani received above 65 mm rains in a single day he said Naleshwar circle in Nanded received 98 mm rain followed by Usuf circle in Beed with 9675 mm showers he said As per official data eight districts of the region have so far received 13169 per cent rainfall Nanded has received the highest rainfall of 10315 mm so far against the average 8144 mm it was stated Heavy rains have caused water levels in dams and irrigation projects to increase an official said Of the 13 major irrigation projects in Marathwada six have reached 100 per cent storage capacity he said The inflow of water in Jayakwadi continued with 23319 cusecs taking the storage to 7746 per cent on Friday morning while the water outflow continued at eight projects he said With 63545 cusecs Vishnupuri dam in Nanded has recorded in the highest outflow the official added PTI AW ARU ARU

Aurangabad Sep 17 PTI Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday addressed the leaders including Union minister Raosaheb Danve at a function here as former and possible future colleagues leading to speculation as to whether a political realignment was in the offing in the stateThe Thackeray-led Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls and formed government with the NCP and CongressAddressing the dignitaries on the dais at a function Thackeray said My former current and if we come together future colleagues Danve a BJP leader from Maharashtra was present so was senior state minister Balasaheb Thorat of CongressLater speaking to reporters at another event Thackeray clarified that he said former and current colleagues because there were leaders from all parties on the dais If everybody comes together they can become future colleagues too Time will tell he added crypticallyNotably state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil had said earlier this week that he should be no longer called a former state minister as things will change in the next couple of daysReacting to Thackerays remarks BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis told reporters elsewhere that he must have realized that the state was suffering because of the Senas unnatural alliance with the NCP and CongressHe must have expressed his thoughts after realizing what kind of people he is working withEverything is possible in politics but the state BJP is not eyeing power We are an efficient opposition party and will continue our work the former chief minister addedShiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut sought to downplay Thackerays comments stating that Danve was everybodys friendWhen he was state BJP chief all was well There is nothing earth-shaking in the comment Those who want to come with us can join and become future colleagues Dont read too much into this Raut addedHe also claimed that he had learnt that Chandrakant Patil was offered the post of Nagaland governor by the BJPSpeaking to reporters later Union minister Danve said Thackeray must have had some experience after working with the NCP and Congress for the last two years making him rethink his decision to sever ties with the BJP Shiv Sena and BJP were in alliance for 25-30 years All of a sudden the Sena left us and joined the Congress and NCP Actually the mandate was for the Shiv Sena and BJP alliance he said This government has completed two years and the chief minister might have had some experience Out of this experience he might have spoken such things the BJP leader said When asked if there were any indications that the saffron alliance may be revived Danve said some churning will take place after such public statements PTI AW ND MR KRK KRK KRK

Aurangabad Sep 17 PTI The All India Majalis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen AIMIM on Friday held an agitation here against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray before his arrival for an event wherein the protesters sarcastically thanked him for resolving various problems faced by the city and the Marathwada region of the state This unique protest was held near Baba Petrol Pump in the city Thackeray arrived in Aurangabad for a flag-hoisting ceremony on the occasion of the Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din Marathwada Liberation Day at a memorial located in Siddharth Garden The AIMIM workers stood at the square carrying placards in hands which read Thank you chief minister for resolving the drought-related woes clearing the irrigation backlog and for resolving other issues Former AIMIM corporator Naser Siddiqui said Aurangabad is now known as the city of potholes Shiv Sena says that the party has given 14 mayors to the city But the chief minister should assess what work they have done for the city So we are standing here to thank the chief minister he said PTI AW NP NP