K.S. Eshwarappa

Bangalore: Water Resource Minister K.S. Eshwarappa on Monday said the Government would consider withdrawing the order banning the sale of agricultural land in the command area of the Upper Krishna Project to people from other States.

Mr. Eshwarappa told presspersons here that the previous government had issued the order to prevent valuable irrigated land from being sold to affluent farmers from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The Minister said the Government Order was unconstitutional and would be rescinded, if required. The GO was issued following a demand by farmers' organisations from the region. They had brought to the Government's notice that poor farmers were selling land to people from Andhra Pradesh who were eager to buy the land because of the extensive irrigation facilities in the region.

Mr. Eshwarappa said that the Government could not issue such an unconstitutional order even though the intentions might be good.

The Minister said that he would hold discussions with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on the need to provide funds for the Gutti Basanna and Kalasa-Banduri nala drinking water projects.

Kalasa-Banduri scheme

He said the State would begin work on Kalasa-Banduri nala project on October 2. The project is meant to provide drinking water to Hubli and Dharwad.

The matter of filling vacant posts of executive engineer, superintending engineer and chief engineer in various projects/circles was being discussed, he added.

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