The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Kalasa Banduri: Kumaraswamy ready to lead team to Centre

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 07, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Kalasa Banduri: Kumaraswamy ready to lead team to Centre

Special Correspondent

IN THELEGISLATURE `The Minister for Water Resources has given an assurance to the State that the Centre is keen on solving the long pending issue.'

Bangalore: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday said in the Legislative Assembly that he was prepared to lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi to impress upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Karnataka's demand for the Mahadayi waters was only meant to meet the drinking water requirements of Belgaum and Hubli-Dharwad.

In reply to a lengthy discussion on the implementation of the Kalasa Banduri Nala project and the opposition to it from Goa, the Chief Minister, who recently participated in discussions organised by the Union Water Resources Ministry in Delhi, said the Union Minister for Water Resources had given a categorical assurance to the State to wait for another fortnight and that the Centre was keen on solving the long pending issue. Karnataka, which had made a budgetary allocation for the project in the budget, would have implemented the project long ago but for the stay given by the Centre following pressure exerted by Goa.

Mr. Kumaraswamy, who was replying to a forceful demand made by Leader of the Opposition N. Dharam Singh and senior Congress member M. Mallikarjun Kharge that an all-party delegation would be able to exert considerable pressure on the Centre. He said that he was prepared to lead a delegation and this could be done within a week.

Earlier, the Chief Minister replying to a debate on the recent communal violence at Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district and the demand of R. Roshan Baig (Congress) said that the coastal police in the State was directly under the supervision of an Inspector-General of Police who was assisted by two superintendents of police.

Credit should go to the Government for restoring normality in Bhatkal within a week in comparison with the past when it would have taken months to achieve it.

For the first time in the current session, the House witnessed a verbal duel between BJP members, led by Water Resources Minister K.S. Eshwarappa and those of the Congress over the former's ideology of safeguarding Hinduism in the light of the Bhatkal violence. This led to an uproar and Mr. Eshwarappa faced the opposition virtually single-handedly.

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