MYSURU: The Kabini Dam having reached its maximum storage capacity after two years, chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday offered 'Bagina' to the Kapila River at the reservoir at HD Kote.The CM was accompanied by public works minister HC Mahadevappa , Chamarajanagar MP R Dhruvanarayana, minister for small scale industries Geetha Mahadev Prasad and MLAs MK Somashekar, Kalale Keshavamurthy. Siddaramaiah said that farmers were delighted with the water level reaching maximum storage capacity at the reservoir located at Beechanahalli, 75km from the city."Now that the dam is full, 10,000 cusecs are being released into the river. Owing to deficit rainfall, we had stopped release of water for agriculture, and requested farmers to take up cultivation of crops that consume less water. Now that the Kabini Dam is full, we will consider releasing water for agriculture," the CM said.Siddaramaiah said that the government had proposed a series of initiatives to develop Mysuru as a tourist hub. "We have allocated Rs 55 crore to develop botanical gardens, similar to the one in Ooty, near the Kabini Dam," he said.He said that the project would be taken up under the public private partnership model. "The cabinet has approved the proposal, and work on it will start soon," said Siddaramaiah, adding that the government was also working on filling up all the lakes in the region.Managing director of the Cauvery Niravari Nigam Ltd (CNNL) Shivashankar said, "This is the first time that the water level at Kabini has reached its maximum storage level in September. Usually, the dam gets filled by June or July. While 10,000 cusecs is being released into the river, around 600 cusecs are being released to the canals."The reservoir has filled up for the first time since 2015. Successive droughts had seen the storage level at the reservoir plummet in 2016.Maximum storage level: 2,284ftStorage capacity: 19tmcftDead storage level: 674.57mCatchment area: 2,142sqkmInflow on Thursday (6am): 15,765 cusecs

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