Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will provide fair compensation to farmers whose lands will be acquired for phase three of the Upper Krishna Project (UKP-3) and a decision in this regard will be taken in the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday.
The Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Thursday, where a decision on the UKP-3 land acquisition is expected.
Last week, the government pushed for consent-based acquisition following ‘exorbitant’ and ‘unaffordable’ compensation rates fixed by courts.
“The project was initially estimated to cost Rs 51,148 crore. It has been revised to Rs 87,818 crore. For land acquisition, the estimate earlier was Rs 17,627 crore. This has gone up to Rs 40,557.09 crore,” Siddaramaiah said at a high-level meeting comprising his deputy D K Shivakumar, Law Minister HK Patil, MLAs and senior officials.
The UKP-3 can irrigate 5.94 lakh hectares. The project involves raising the height of the Almatti Dam from 519 to 524 metres, which will increase storage capacity by 100 tmc ft. This requires acquisition of 1.33 lakh acres, including 75,563 acres that will get submerged. Compensation awards have been issued for 29,566 acres so far.
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