BENGALURU: Water Resources Minister M B Patil said the state government has spent Rs 20,753 crore on irrigation projects and brought 4.28 lakh acres under irrigation in the last three years.
In a press release on Wednesday, Patil said CM Siddaramaiah had promised to spend Rs 50,000 crore on irrigation over five years. Accordingly, till December 2015, the government has spent Rs 20,753 crore.
Patil’s statement came as a rebuttal to allegations by opposition party leaders B S Yeddyurappa and H D Kumaraswamy that the Congress government has been neglecting irrigation by not releasing funds as promised.
In the last three years, Rs 33,668 crore has been provided for the Water Resources Ministry by the Congress government which is more than what the BJP government had spent in its entire tenure.
The BJP government had allocated Rs 23,724.18 crore and spent Rs 18,769.64 crore to create irrigation facilities for 2.24 lakh hectares, he added.
The present government has spent Rs 15,744.4 crore on projects of Krishna river valley alone besides providing Rs 1,500 crore for relief and rehabilitation of people affected by these projects, he said. Patil said Singatalur, Shiggaon and Sannati lift irrigation projects have got the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests clearance, which had been pending for years.