HUBBALLI: A march headed by senior Congress leader SR Patil, pressing for early implementation of the third phase of Upper Krishna, Mahadayi diversion and Navali balancing reservoir irrigation projects of North Karnataka has sent a mixed political signal. As Patil looks cornered in the party, the march signifies a parallel to the party’s proposed Padayatra for Mahadayi and Krishan projects.
The tractor march -- Krishna-Mahadayi-Navali Sankalpa Yatra, led by Patil is being organised by Uttara Karnataka Swabhimana Vedike and other farmer and Kannada organisations of the region. The march will begin on April 13 from Naragund of Gadag district and pass through Bagalkot and Vijayapura districts and culminate on April 17 at Badagandi village in Bilagi, the home taluk of Patil. Around 200 tractors are expected to take part.
Though Patil claimed the march to be apolitical, he did not divulge details of the other organisations taking part. He claimed that it will receive support from Congress leaders in the region. He said that the party will certainly back his cause as he had promised on the floor of the House, as the leader of the Council, that he would take out such a yatra.
Dismissing suggestions that the event is to revive his political fortunes in the 2023 Assembly polls, Patil said that he has never gone after power or chair. He said that the party has offered him a lot in the last 24 years that he has served as a member of the Upper House. This is not the first time he is raising the issue of irrigation projects of North Karnataka and he has always contributed to these projects when the party was in power, Patil added.
On using available water resources, North Karnataka has lagged far behind other parts of the state, Patil said. Of 68 per cent of available resources in the state, Kalyana Karnataka has used just 1.37 per cent and Kitturu Karnataka 3.3 per cent. If these irrigation projects are implemented, the region will become one of the most promising in the country for farming and industrial development, he said.