BELGAUM: The "Krishna Basin Development Authority Bill" will enable the State Government to go ahead with all its irrigation projects in the Krishna basin without waiting for Centre's approval, the former Irrigation Minister, Malharigouda S. Patil, has said.

He told presspersons here on Thursday that the Bill was passed in the State legislature in 1991-92, during the tenure of the S. Bangarappa Government. The President has also given his assent to the Bill, which has been put in cold storage since then, he said.

He wondered whether any of the ruling parties or the Opposition is aware of the Bill, which empowers the Government to complete all the irrigation projects and schemes in the Krishna basin.

He recalled that the Bill was adopted to ensure expeditious and smoother acquisition of land and completion of irrigation projects. Since successive governments failed to take advantage of the bill, several projects are moving at a snail's pace, he alleged.

Mr. Patil said that the implementation of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala diversion scheme to utilise 6 tmcft of Mahadayi water for providing drinking water to Hubli-Dharwad will not be of any consequence until it is implemented in toto.

Using the Mahadayi water for generation of 330MW of electricity and releasing the water into the Mandovi is a better option. But, he reiterated the implementation of Kalsa-Banduri Nala project as envisaged by the Government will not serve the purpose.

Mr. Patil said it is impossible to solve the drinking water problem of Hubli-Dharwad on a permanent basis by drawing water from Malaprabha dam. He suggested lifting water from Tungabhadra river and Singtalur.

He said that the proposed thermal electricity generation plant at Jewargi in Gulbarga district will be a liability like Dhabol.

Instead, the Government should expeditiously implement the 700 MW hydro-electricity generation programme at the Narayanpur reservoir, which will ease the power crisis in Gulbarga, Raichur, Bijapur and Bidar districts.

Taking a dig at the Opposition for resorting the cheap publicity stunts on various issues, he said the legislators and their leaders should demonstrate their strength on the floor of the legislature to pressure the Government to expedite irrigation projects and other development programmes instead of resorting to gimmicks such as "kar seva" for the implementation of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail