Compensation package for Upper Krishna Project third phase, to be finalised within next week, says CM

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday announced that the compensation package for the third phase of Upper Krishna Project would be finalised after convening a meeting within next week and appealed to the farmers not to approach the court over the compensation as it would lead to delay.

He was speaking to presspersons performing ‘Ganga Puja’ and offering ‘bagina’ (offering) to Krishna river at Lal Bahadur Shastri Reservoir (Almatti dam) in Vijayapura district in a programme organised by Water Resources Department and Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) on Saturday.

“Previously a meeting with farmers’ leaders was held in Belagavi and the government had agreed to their suggestions. Recently Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has discussed the issue with farmers and legislators of the region. It has now reached the stage of giving consent award. With the consent of everyone it will be finalised within next week,” he said.

Mr. Siddramaiah said under the third phase of Upper Krishna Project height of Almatti dam would be increased from 519.6 m to 524.25 m to store 130 tmc ft. of water. “173 tmc ft. of water can utilised to irrigate 6.6 lakh hectares. While the third phase has been finalised, the gazette notification has not been issued yet. If it is issued, then it will be easy to take up works on increasing dam height and irrigation works,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that irrigation being the priority sector, the Union Minister and Prime Minister met thrice to discuss the related issues, and the Deputy Chief Minister had met them five times.

Single phase land acquisition

Asserting the State government’s commitment on increasing the height of Almatti dam, Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that leaders and legislators should agree for a single phase land acquisition without any appeal to facilitate early completion of the whole process.

“A separate decision will be taken on the rehabilitation. It is our commitment to utilise the water going to the sea for creating irrigation facilities for our people. We want to take it up during this term itself,” he said.

Mr. Shivakumar said that Yashwanthrayagouda Patil, MLA, has said that there was no specific demand for certain amount of compensation from the farmers as the canal would pass through their farmlands. “He has requested for fixing compensation with a liberal mind. Minister Shivanand Patil and M.B. Patil too have given their suggestions,” he said.

The Minister expressed confidence that considering the pressure being exerted on it, the Centre might issue notification on the issue any time. “We want our share. People of Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Vijayapura, and Bagalkot districts should extend necessary cooperation. We have discussed with legislators of all the parties and collected their opinions,” he said.

 “Twice a meeting of riparian states was called. However our information is that the meetings were postponed at the behest of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. When we drew the attention of the Union Jal Shakti Minister, he told us not to worry as the meetings were put off for technical reasons and soon another meeting would be called. Minister M.B. Patil has informed that previously Maharashtra government had conveyed that they had no objection to increasing the dam height,” he said.

Mr. Shivakumar also pointed out that during the tenure of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, a compensation package was fixed. However it was stopped because several legislators felt that it was not helping the farmers. Recently a meeting of the legislators of Almatti command area had been conducted and its outcome had been conveyed to the Chief Minister, he said.

The Minister said that around 20,000 farmers had approached the court on the issue of compensation. The farmers should also understand that they were being misled by some advocates on the issue and also that it would not benefit anyone.