Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday announced that the compensation package for the third phase of Upper Krishna Project would be finalised after convening a meeting within next week and appealed to the farmers not to approach the court over the compensation as it would lead to delay.
He was speaking to presspersons performing ‘Ganga Puja’ and offering ‘bagina’ (offering) to Krishna river at Lal Bahadur Shastri Reservoir (Almatti dam) in Vijayapura district in a programme organised by Water Resources Department and Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) on Saturday.
“Previously a meeting with farmers’ leaders was held in Belagavi and the government had agreed to their suggestions. Recently Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has discussed the issue with farmers and legislators of the region. It has now reached the stage of giving consent award. With the consent of everyone it will be finalised within next week,” he said.
Mr. Siddramaiah said under the third phase of Upper Krishna Project height of Almatti dam would be increased from 519.6 m to 524.25 m to store 130 tmc ft. of water. “173 tmc ft. of water can utilised to irrigate 6.6 lakh hectares. While the third phase has been finalised, the gazette notification has not been issued yet. If it is issued, then it will be easy to take up works on increasing dam height and irrigation works,” he said.
