Upper Bhadra: Govind Karjol pushes for national project tag
BENGALURU: Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Thursday and urged her to consider Karnataka’s prestigious Upper Bhadra Project as a national project. Sitharaman has assured Karjol that she will get the approval for the project.
“I met senior ministers and officials concerned, and held discussions with them seeking approval for Karnataka’s proposals which are pending at various levels of the central government.
The Upper Bhadra Project is a massive irrigation project to utilize 29.90 tmcft of water (17.40 tmcft from Tunga River and 12.50 tmcft from Bhadra Reservoir) in Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Tumakuru and Davanagere districts to irrigate 2.25 lakh hectares of land. The project aims to provide irrigation facility through micro-irrigation to the area and to rejuvenate 367 tanks in these districts,” he told TNIE.
He said the project is eligible to be declared as a national project and has already received all necessary supplementary approvals from the Central Water Commission and various directorates of the Central government.The Jal Shakti Ministry, in its 14th High Powered Steering Committee meeting held two years ago, had recommended to the Union Cabinet to consider it as a national project. The total cost of the project is Rs 21,000 crore.
“After it is considered a national project, the Central government is expected to bear 60 per cent of the cost. That means Rs 16,000 crore will come from the centre,” he said. On the Mahadayi project, he said a special memorandum was submitted to Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat who immediately issued suitable directions to the authorities. As regards the Upper Krishna Project, he said Rs 13,000 crore has already been spent on the third phase.