BENGALURU: Water Resources Minister M B Patil has instructed officials to explore the possibility of raising funds from Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd (HUDCO) to implement Phase-3 of the Upper Krishna Project.
The project envisages to utilise the state’s share of 130 tmcft of water by raising the height of Alamatti reservoir across the Krishna river, to its full level of 524.24 meters.
The minister, who reviewed the progress of land acquisition for the project, has suggested officials to convene a meeting of senior officials of HUDCO and submit a request for financial assistance shortly to complete the works of the over Rs 50,000 crore project, which included land acquisition cost of Rs 36,000 crore.
Exhorting officials to hasten the process of fixing the price for land acquisition for the UKP-3 project, for which 1,20,000 acres is needed, he said, “There is a need to adopt a farmer-friendly approach as far as fixing of price for land, which is going to be acquired for the implementation of the project, is concerned.”
At least 5.25 lakh hectares of additional land would be brought under irrigation by implementing the project, benefitting Vijayapura, Koppal, Ballari, Bagalkot and other districts. Rakesh Singh, principal secretary and B G Gurupadaswamy, secretary of Water Resources Department were also present.