The Karnataka Government is planning to bring out a white paper on the status of all the ongoing irrigation projects in the State.

The government is planning to promote drip irrigation in sugarcane cultivation. In a time-bound manner, it will be implemented in all command areas in the State within five years, Water Resources Minister MB Patil told the State Assembly.

Rehabilitation

He was replying to the budget demands of his Ministry. Patil said, “To increase irrigation area in the Krishna basin, Phase III will be taken up shortly. For this, about 77 villages will get submerged. We plan to take up rehabilitation in phases. In the first phase, 20 villages will be rehabilitated.”

As for the White Paper, Patil said, it would provide details such as when exactly these projects were taken up, their physical and fiscal progress and total quantum of funds spent so far.

Patil further said the paper will also include details such as the total land required for the project and total quantum of land acquired at present.

The paper is also expected to update on the Rehabilitation and Resettlement works of all the works taken up in the State.

Speaker’s advice

Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa welcomed the move. “If you want time-bound completion of irrigation projects, you must have an action plan which is backed by sufficient funds,” he said.

The Speaker expressed concern over the irrigation projects languishing for decades for want of funds and improper planning. Pointing out that people were yet to get irrigation benefits despite investing thousands of crores on these projects, he wondered if it was not a dead investment.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW