Karnataka - Bijapur   

BJP to stage protest at Alamatti dam site

Staff Correspondent

Party leaders term Union Government directive partisan

BIJAPUR: Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Assembly B.S. Yediyurappa will stage a demonstration at the Alamatti dam site in protest against the Union Government's partisan directive asking the State to maintain the water level in the dam at 509 metres till the end of September.

The president of the State unit of Bharatiya Janata Party, Jagdish Shettar; senior party leader, K.S. Eshwarappa; the former Union Minister of State for Railways, Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal; the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Govind Karjol; the Bagalkot MP, P.C. Gaddigoudar; and party MLAs will participate in the demonstration, according to the president of the Bagalkot district unit, Narayansa Bhandage.

The party wants to make it a big show and its MLAs and office-bearers at the taluk level have been asked to mobilise people for the demonstration, he said.

Tour

Confirming his participation, Mr. Yediyurappa told The Hindu over phone from Bangalore that he will arrive in Bijapur on Tuesday. He will tour some of the taluks in the command area of the Upper Krishna Project.

He said the Union Government had issued a partisan directive at the behest of Maharashtra, and it has serious dimension for the State with regard to Krishna waters. The Supreme Court had directed that water level could be maintained at 519.6 metres in the dam after taking into consideration all aspects, including backwater submergence.

The Union Government was also a party in the case and had given its opinion which had contributed to the process of fixing the level. But now the Union Government had found merit in the allegations of Maharashtra that storing of water to the brim in the dam had caused floods in that State. A ramification of this directive is that Maharashtra could make it a ground against the State over the height of the dam before the new tribunal. The State wants to raise the height of the dam to 524.256 metres, and the issue is to be decided by the new tribunal. Hence, the State has to tread cautiously, he added.

To a query, he said although the Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh has ruled out reducing the water level in the dam, the leader of the coalition Janata Dal (Secular) had taken a different stand. There should not be divergent views among political partners when the question of State is involved, he said.

Meanwhile, the water level at Alamatti on Sunday touched to 519.52 metres. It was 519.49 metres on Saturday. Also, there was a slight increase in the inflow, which stood at 52,736 cusecs. The present gross storage, according to sources, is little over 120 tmcft.

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

Stories in this Section

BJP to stage protest at Alamatti dam site

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu