The national general secretary of the Janata Dal (Secular) and former MLA, N.H. Konaraddi, has said that the party will soon launch a movement seeking declaration of the Krishna River Basin Project in northern Karnataka as a national project.
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Wednesday, Mr. Konaraddi said that the Union government should consider significance of the Krishna projects for north Karnataka and declare it a national project and allocate funds accordingly.
He said that to begin with a village stay and tractor rally would be organised. “We will begin with tractor rallies to villages in Navalgund and Annigeri taluks of Dharwad district, which will be followed by a village-stay programme. Subsequently the movement will be extended to other districts in the region,” he said.
Mr. Konaraddi said that the Krishna basin and command area comprised the Mahadayi, the Kalasa-Banduri, and the Malaprabha river projects and the water available at the Almatti reservoir was getting utilised more by Andhra Pradesh and Telengana than Karnataka as the State government had not taken steps for ensuring utilisation of the allocated water share. The apathy of the government had resulted in the project being delayed inordinately, he alleged.
He said that as increasing the height of the Almatti dam would lead to submergence of scores of villages, the land acquisition process and rehabilitation would require several lakh crore rupees.
“Without assistance from the Union government, the State alone can’t implement the project. So, the Centre should declared it as a national project and allocate funds so that the work is taken up on priority and completed,” he said.
Regarding the discrepancies in implementation of the Prime Minister’s Fasal Bima Yojna, he said that as the crop insurance had been entrusted to private insurance firms, the farmers were not getting timely compensation. The scheme should be entrusted to the State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India, he demanded. Observers of the party Naseen Bhagvan and Shankr Malagi were present.
