BENGALURU: Reiterating the state government’s commitment to increase the height of the Almatti dam from 518 to 524 metres, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that it is also committed to providing fair and just compensation to farmers who lose their land to the Upper Krishna Project Phase-3.
“Appropriate rehabilitation package will be provided to land losers. A decision in this regard will be taken at the next cabinet meeting,” he said, presiding over a meeting on the implementation of Phase-3.
As per the verdict of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2, the state will get 130 tmcft of water for this project, which will help irrigate 5.94 lakh hectares of land. By raising the level of the dam, an additional 100 tmcft of water could be stored, Siddaramaiah said.
In all, 1,33,867 acres of land is required for the implementation of the project. So far, 29,566 acres of land has been acquired. The process to acquire 59,354 acres of land is yet to be initiated.
He said the project cost, which was initially estimated at Rs. 51,148 crore, has been revised to Rs 87,818 crore of which, Rs 17,627 crore was initially estimated for land acquisition. The revised cost is Rs 40,557.09 crore.
The revised estimation for nine sub-project civil works is Rs 25,122.53 crore, he further said.
Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil, and Excise Minister RB Thimmapur were present.