The State Government’s assurance that it would implement the recommendations of G S Paramashivaiah Committee report, which envisages providing drinking water and irrigation facilities to Chikkaballapur and other arid districts, has surprised the people of the district.
Responding to the nearly two-month-long agitation by various organisations seeking permanent irrigation facilities for Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Bangalore Rural, Tumkur and other districts, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar held a meeting with elected representatives from the region on Tuesday. Later, he announced that the Government would implement the recommendations of the Paramashivaiah report.
The Government’s statement has come as a surprise as the successive chief ministers had put the report on the back burner due to several hurdles in the way of its implementation.
Citing practical difficulties, Chikkaballapur MP and Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily had proposed the Yettinahole project as an alternative.
The then chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda had also toed the same line and said that making the Yettinahole project a reality was the priority and, the other project could be considered later. Former chief ministers H D Kumarswamy and B S Yeddyurappa had not taken any decision in this regard.
Besides, there was a strong opposition from the people of coastal districts to implement the Paramashivaiah committee report which suggests drawing water from West-flowing rivers such as the Nethravathi.
Despite all these hurdles, Shettar has announced that government would implement the report and, this has raised questions in the minds of Chikkaballapur residents.
Liverpool-based Opthalmologist Madhu Seethappa of Chintamani in the district, who was in the forefront of the movement seeking implementation of the report, said the sudden announcement by the government during the election year was nothing but a “poll gimmick.”
Yeddyurappa, when he was the chief minister, and Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai had not given an audience to Paramashivaiah to discuss the issue of peramanent irrigation facility, Dr Seethappa told Deccan Herald.
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