The fate of the proposed integrated bulk water supply scheme for Mysuru from the Cauvery at Hale Unduwadi on the KRS backwaters is in limbo as the State government is yet to give its approval.
When contacted, Mayor R. Lingappa said that the project was critical to Mysuru and though a general proposal was submitted to the government there was no response from it so far.
Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner C.G. Betsurmath said that a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the scheme was yet to be prepared and the time frame for completing the DPR, the revised cost estimates, the agency to implement it etc. were not determined.
“We have not heard anything from the government,” he added.
The project was initially proposed at a cost of Rs. 327.5 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) almost two years ago and even the MCC gave its consent.
However, the project was mooted when the JNNURM had run through its course of five years (2007-12) and hence it was proposed for implementation during the transition period.
But during the transition period no fresh projects were approved by the Centre and those pending completion were accorded priority after which the BJP government at the Centre scrapped JNNURM and replaced it with the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
While Mysuru is also included under AMRUT, only the mission statements and guidelines of the new urban rejuvenation programme have been issued so far.
But the actual time frame of the new mission, deadlines for submission of the detailed project reports and their approval, time frame for release of funds etc. are yet to be determined.
While the MCC could have received 80 per cent of the project cost from the Centre and 10 per cent from the State government under JNNURM, the funding pattern under AMRUT is different.
Under AMRUT, only one-third of the project cost will be released as grant by the Union government and the remaining is to be met by the State government or the urban local bodies or through private investment.
But there is a catch in the mission statement of AMRUT which states that priority would be accorded for smart cities as the concept of smart cities and AMRUT are complementary. Mysuru, incidentally did not make it to the smart cities’ list and hence there is little chance of it receiving funding by the Centre.
Hence the MCC may have to depend on State which, strangely, has been lukewarm to the project so far.
