Funds promised for water project in parched dists

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday promised to provide adequate funds for implementing drinking water projects in the parched Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru Rural districts, including Yettinahole project, in the 2015-16 budget.

The chief minister, who held a meeting with a delegation of elected representatives from these districts at Vidhana Soudha, promised to earmark Rs 1,000 crore for Yettinahole project in the coming fiscal year. Besides, Rs 600 crore will be allocated for implementing a project proposed to fill up lakes with treated waste water in these districts, he said.

Elected representatives from these districts had, on Monday, protested against the government in the Assembly for not mentioning Yettinahole project in the budget. A majority of the MLAs from Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts had boycotted the session as a mark of protest.

Deputy Speaker and Congress MLA from Gowribidanur N H Shivashankara Reddy told reporters after the meeting that the delegation was satisfied with the assurance given by the chief minister. Siddaramaiah promised to set up clean drinking water supply units in select villages of these districts in the coming days as part of efforts to mitigate the drinking water problem, Reddy said.