Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House of state legislature, K.S. Eshwarappa today said that the Irrigation Minister was ‘insensitive and irresponsible’.
Mr. Eshwarappa pointed fingers at the Minister for Water Resources, M.B. Patil for not booking criminal cases against the contractor and government officials responsible for the breach of 9A Distributory of Narayanpur Right Bank Canal (NRBC) and for not paying compensation to the farmers who had lost their standing crops on 334 acres in the incident.
Addressing a media conference at Inspectors’ Bungalow here on Tuesday, he charged that the Irrigation Minister had neither visited the spot nor given ears to the sufferings of farmers who lost their crops.
The 29.15 kms lengthy 9A Distributory, which was designed to irrigate 38,000 acres of agricultural lands with its capacity of 350 cusecs of water flowing, breached when only 50 cusecs of water was released into it for trial, he said.
“One then can understand what would happen if 350 cusecs water is released to the canal. Poor quality of construction is undoubtedly a primary cause for the breach. Yet, concerned engineers and contractor were not booked even one month and ten days after the breach. The government has either not thought fit to pay compensation to farmers who suffered loss for no fault of their own,” he said.
The government’s non-action against the irresponsible contractor, engineers and quality controlling offices, he added, has sent a clear message to other greedy contractors and corrupt officials to grab as much as profits and misappropriate public funds by not maintaining required quality in public works.
“An objective inquiry into the issue by a third party would reveal the nexus between the Irrigation Minister and the contractor”, he said.
He demanded to immediately book criminal cases against the responsible officers and contractor, pay handsome compensation to farmers and ensure the completion of the 9A Distributory at the earliest possible.
Rampur Project
Mr. Eshwarappa attributed the deadlock in Rampur Lift Irrigation Project to the ego clash between the officials of Irrigation Department and that of Mines and Geology Department.
He said that the project that was aimed at irrigating 22,000 acres of lands, reached a deadlock as Hutti Gold Mines Limited (HGML) was not ready to give small portion of lands in its possession for the project.
“The total length of the canal is 62 kms, of which 4 kms falls under the area owned by HGML. The state government undertaking has written a letter to Union Government registering its objection, though the Union Government has already given nod to the project. If the its resistance persists, not only the Rs. 170 crore that is already spent would go waste, but also tens of thousands of farmers would be deprived of their irrigation opportunities,” he said.
He demanded the Chief Minister who held the Department of Mines and Geology to intervene and solve the issue.
MLC Amarnath Patil, BJP district unit president Basavanagowda Byagwatt, party leaders Virupakshappa, Bandesh Walkamdinni, Shankarappa and others were present.
