BENGALURU : Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday insisted that the Union government should do away with certain legal provisions in interstate river water disputes to ensure faster environmental clearances to speed up projects which are in the pipeline.
“It is possible to draw more investments for infrastructure development by simplifying environment and forest department clearances and rules in the finance ministry,” Bommai said, advocating the need to revisit the rules governing inter-state water disputes which are delaying implementation of irrigation projects.
He stressed that maximum utility of river basins by using technology, keeping aside politics, will create a win-win situation for all riparian states. With this, all stakeholders will become a party to the solution instead of the problem, he said. “Environmental laws are turning out to be an impediment for speeding up infrastructure development projects,” he pointed out.
Bommai’s was speaking at the inauguration of southern zone chief ministers’ virtual conference on Prime Minister’s ‘Gati Shakthi’ programme, which was chaired by Union Minister for Surface Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari. His statements acquire significance in the wake of Mekedatu balancing reservoir project for which the environmental clearance is still pending. Analysts said it is also significant for Mahadayi project.
Relax rules on Coastal Regulation Zone, says Bommai
“For a better interstate and centre-and-states relationship, certain initiatives are important, to speed up implementation of projects, otherwise costs would escalate,’’ he pointed out. He asked the Union minister to relax the rules with regard to Coastal Regulation Zone to take up infrastructure projects along the coast. Karnataka has a 330km coastline offering an immense potential to develop ports, enterprises and tourism. There is a need to change CRZ regulations.
He also appealed to Gadkari to take steps to speed up the Bengaluru suburban railway project which requires Rs 15,000 crore and the high-speed train project from Hyderabad and Bengaluru to Mysuru. Bengaluru is an international city which contributes 40 per cent of IT/BT exports from the country and the suburban rail project should be given impetus, he pointed out. K-RIDE has been established to implement the suburban rail project for Bangaluru and Tumakuru-Chitradurga- Davangere line.
“Karnataka is the first state to have 50:50 cost sharing for railway projects”, he said. He also appealed to the Centre to take steps to upgrade 6,433 km state highways into National Highways. “In the last 10 years, National Highways have seen a 10-fold increase and proved that they are not just confined to road transport and logistics, but spur national development,” he said.