GULBARGA: Agricultural Marketing Minister Sharanabasappa Darshanapur said here on Tuesday that the State Government has decided to relocate ten villages submerged in the backwaters of the Bennethora Major Irrigation Project in Chitapur taluk in Gulbarga district at a cost of Rs. 5 crore.

He was speaking at a function after distributing the first instalment cheques of Rs. 6,000 each to beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) in the rehabilitation centre for people of Ankalga village that was totally submerged in the backwaters of the Bennethora project.

Mr. Darshanapur, who is also the chairman of the District-level Rehabilitation Committee, said the committee took a decision to utilise the funds for providing drinking water facility, laying roads, drainage and construction of schools in the rehabilitation centres immediately. Tenders for these projects had been floated and work on the Rs. 40-lakh drinking water project for four rehabilitation centres of Ankalga, Nagnur, Herur, and Yenkanchi had begun.

He said that these projects should have been taken up and completed long back, but the rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected people was not accorded importance. Mr. Darshanapur said that during his visit to the rehabilitation centre here six months backhe was moved by the plight of the affected people.

It was then decided to take up development projects in all the rehabilitation centres immediately. He said the Government had decided to sanction 193 houses under the IAY and give Rs. 25,000 assistance to each beneficiary.

Minister for Animal Husbandry Revu Naik said there was a need for conducting another survey of the submerged villages, particularly the eight villages coming under his Kamalapur constituency in the district and fix higher compensation.

Mr. Naik said the Cabinet would have to approve the survey. He assured the people of Ankalga that he along with Mr. Darshanapur would take up the matter in the Cabinet and get its approval.

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