TUMKUR: Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said here on Tuesday that a private company would be invited to set up a steel unit in Tumkur district. The site for the plant would be selected based on the company's infrastructure needs, he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy inspected the Kothagere tank bund, a portion of which was breached on Saturday amid strong protests by farmers. He was accompanied by Minister for Environment and Forest C. Chennigappa and MLAs H. Ningappa and D. Nagarajaiah.

Assurance on tank

Even farmers who met the Chief Minister were mostly from among the followers of his party MLAs. He assured the farmers that the breached part of the bund would be rebuilt and the tank would be refilled with the Hemavathy water.

Mr. Kumaraswamy told presspersons that the Kothagere tank issue had been blown out of proportion by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who wanted to gain a foothold in Kunigal taluk. He said: "It is unfortunate that the BJP was trying to fish in troubled waters."

Mr. Kumaraswamy said he would not hesitate to ask his party MLAs to quit if they were found guilty of breaching the tank. He said: "Let us not stand on prestige or play politics in matters of water and issues related to farmers."

The Chief Minister said coconut growers were not happy about the price fixed at Rs. 4,900 a quintal.

"The Centre should come forward to fund the measure to keep copra price at a desirable level. But the Centre is silent over the crisis. I will appeal to the Centre to consider funding the State's efforts to support the copra market," he said.

Earlier, he was briefed by the officials that last year the copra was sold at Rs. 9,000 a quintal. The price fell to Rs. 4,300 this year.

Inspects crops

Mr. Kumaraswamy later inspected crops in the command area of Mangala Reservoir.

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