Minister for Water Resources Govind Karjol recently accused the previous Congress government of neglecting the Upper Krishna Project (UKP) and held it responsible for its rise in cost. He was speaking to presspersons after inspecting the Gandorinala Dam (Medium Irrigation Project) at Belakota village of Kalaburagi district.
Mr. Karjol said that the estimated cost of UPK Stage III to utilise 130 tmcft of Krishna river Water Tribunal 2, which was ₹17,207 crore in 2012-13 has shot up to ₹65,000 crore now. The BJP government in the State during 2011-12 allocated ₹17,207 crore to take up resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) works to acquire 1,33,800 acres of land.
Though the tribunal, headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar, allocated Karnataka 173 tmcft water seven years ago, the previous government (Congress and JD(S)-Congress coalition government) had not released funds for the project.
Mr. Karjol said that the State government has announced to provide ₹2,500 crore this year to take up the resettlement and rehabilitation of around 20 villages in UKP Stage III (Phase-I).
The long-pending UPK Stage-III would increase the height of the Almatti dam from 519 m to 524 m. It involves the acquisition of 1.3 lakh acres, including 75,000 acres that would be submerged. UKP-I and UKP-II were aimed at irrigating 6.22 lakh hectares, after completion of UKP-III an additional 5.94 lakh hectares of land covering seven districts will be irrigated.
Replying to a query, Mr. Karjol said that the Yettinhole Project which provides safe drinking water to more than seven districts facing severe scarcity will be commissioned on a trial basis within the next two months. He said that the project was delayed due to hurdles in land acquisition procedures. Similarly, this project [Yettinhole] was started with an estimated cost of ₹8,000 crore and the project cost has now increased to ₹23,000 crore, envisages to pump about 24tmcft water.
Gandori Nala Project
Mr. Karjol directed the officials to take immediate steps to supply irrigation water to tail-end areas. He instructed officials to cater to the needs of farmers, who complained during the inspection on the spot.
There were no major repair and maintenance works taken up of the canals recently, the farmers said. Mr. Karjol said action would be taken against officials and contractors responsible for the sub-standard works on the canal.
