JOIN USRiver-linking: Karnataka to be heard first, says Bommai
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday claimed to have convinced Union Home Minister Amit Shah that Karnataka's viewpoint should be considered first before finalising a project that would link peninsular rivers.
Bommai was speaking to reporters after having returned from Tirupati where he attended the Southern Zonal Council meeting that Shah chaired.
“Before preparing the detailed project report on interlinking of the Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri and Palar rivers, the states’ share of water should be decided. I stressed this. [Shah] instructed the Jal Shakti ministry to go ahead only after considering Karnataka’s contention,” Bommai said.
Bommai said he “strongly urged” the Centre to issue the gazette notification on the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II award. "The Centre has to take a stand. It’s been 10 years,” he said.
At the meeting, Bommai said that he reiterated Karnataka’s demand that the Centre should not give legal clearance for major irrigation projects of neighbouring states that violated verdicts of water tribunals. “Telangana has no right to take up Palamaru Ranga Reddy and Nakkalagandi lift irrigation projects from Srisailam reservoir in Krishna basin to draw huge quantities of surplus waters,” Bommai said.
He also opposed the construction of the Rajiv Gandhi Sangam Banda barrage by Telangana. “Such a permanent project to draw surplus waters would deprive Karnataka of its rightful share,” he said.
Further, Bommai asked Andhra Pradesh to share construction details for the Gundrevula reservoir, which would submerge villages in Karnataka.
“I also raised the Mekedatu project, but it could not be taken up for discussion as the Tamil Nadu CM (MK Stalin) did not attend the meeting,” he said, asserting his government’s willingness to go ahead with it.
“Our fight with Tamil Nadu goes back to pre-independence times. There’s always politics around water in Tamil Nadu. Whenever there's a Karnataka project, they oppose it,” Bommai said.
Besides Stalin, Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan did not attend the meeting.
‘PRR decision soon’
On the long-pending peripheral ring road project in Bengaluru, Bommai said the government would arrive at a final decision soon. “I have reviewed it twice. Several revisions have been done,” he said, adding that private participation in the project was yet to be finalised.
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