CHITRADURGA: Karnataka chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday reiterated that the proposed Mekedatu balancing reservoir project across the Cauvery river near Ramanagara would benefit Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka. Reacting to his proposed meeting with his Tamil Nadu counterpart, C Joseph Vijay, in Bengaluru on August 3, Shivakumar said he approaches issues positively and works towards finding solutions.
Shivakumar was in Chitradurga to chair the Bengaluru Regional Division-level Development Review Meeting.
“Eighty percent of the benefits of the Mekedatu project will go to Tamil Nadu and the remaining 20 percent to Karnataka,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the issues of drought and drinking water would also be discussed with Vijay to reach an amicable settlement.
Shivakumar said he hopes to arrive at a solution to the Mekedatu row, similar to the Tungabhadra water issue. “In the Tungabhadra issue, I brought together Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, and Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil at Hospet recently and worked for the welfare of farmers in all three riparian states,” Shivakumar said.
On the demand for cloud seeding from various quarters, the CM said a decision would be taken after receiving a report from the department concerned.
On declaring drought
Shivakumar said certain guidelines must be followed before declaring drought. “I have directed the officials concerned to prepare a detailed ground report, which will be forwarded to the Union Government. After the Central team’s visit, we will declare a drought. I am not going to bow to pressure from anyone in declaring drought,” he said.
The Chief Minister also said that he, along with senior ministers, would meet Karnataka MPs and urge them to raise the issue of drought in the Parliament on Monday to ensure that certain rules are relaxed by the Centre while declaring a drought. “If needed, I will also lead an all-party delegation to the Centre,” he added.
Priority for drinking water
Shivakumar said the water available in the state’s reservoirs would first be reserved for drinking water and then for irrigation. “Considering the current storage levels in various dams, I have requested farmers not to take up sowing without assessing water availability. Farmers have also been advised to avoid water-intensive crops. Fortunately, the water levels at the Almatti and Narayanapura dams have increased. We also hope for good rainfall in the coming days,” he said.
He added that task force committees have been empowered to take immediate action to address drinking water shortages and that there is no shortage of funds for this purpose.
Permitting officials to sink borewells where necessary, the Chief Minister advised them to record the GPS coordinates of every borewell drilled to prevent misuse of funds.
The Chief Minister said officials have been directed to issue caste and residence certificates to people at their doorsteps in view of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. “Nodal officers have been appointed to monitor this work,” he added.
Shivakumar reviewed the drought situation in Chitradurga district before chairing the Bengaluru Division review meeting. The CM, who was scheduled to visit Yaraballi, Vaddikere, Aimangala and Maradihalli villages, had to cut short his tour due to a lack of time and visited only Vaddikere.
Shivakumar inspected crops on land owned by Panduranga Reddy in Vaddikere village of Hiriyur taluk. He examined the dried sunflower crop and interacted with farmers. “The sunflower plants should have flowered by now. But they have dried up before flowering,” said Reddy, appealing to the CM to release crop loss compensation. Shivakumar assured him that a decision would be taken soon.
After attending the review meeting, the CM hurriedly left for Anubhav Mantapa in Chitradurga.