Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi on Saturday assured the Legislative Council that the land acquisition process for Upper Krishna Project phase 3 will be hastened.
“Unified rates have to be fixed for the land to be acquired and rehabilitation should be taken up. The process will start soon. We will consult the Chief Minister,” the Minister said, in response to the issue of North Karnataka irrigation projects raised by Leader of the Opposition S.R. Patil and JD(S) leader Basavaraj Horatti on the floor of the House on Friday.
The UKP phase-3 involved acquisition of nearly 1.3 lakh acres of land and submergence of 20 villages in the backwaters of Almatti reservoir of Bagalkot district. The project is set to irrigate about 14 lakh acres across seven North Karnataka districts. Mr. Jarkiholi pointed at the SLP in Supreme Court and the court’s direction not to notify the Krishna tribunal award 2. “The project cannot start without the notification.” He said that an interim application was made before the court in February 2019 seeking direction to the Centre to notify the tribunal award, and several requests had been made to the Centre on the matter.
Meanwhile, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy said that due to the pandemic, the court proceedings had been delayed, and the State government was in touch with the legal team to take the case forward.
