Irrigation expert rues poor response

Addressing a press meet here, Paramashivaiah said the Government has not shown any inclination to implement his recommendations, which, if implemented, would have benefited nine lakh farmers of the district.

“The government has dismissed my suggestions as unscientific. But I am willing to prove my point in any forum,” he claimed. He said following Siddaganga Mutt seer Dr Shivakumar Swamiji’s suggestions, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa has invited him for a discussion on the issue. He would meet Water Resource Minister Basavaraj Bommai, before meeting the Chief Minister, he added.

He took a dig at the media as well stating the issue was not given adequate space and hence, the farmers of all the districts couldn’t be mobilised to pressurise the Government for permanent irrigation. 

He said, “What is the use of investing crores of rupees on desilting or renovating tanks when 50 per cent of them in the district have not got water supply in the past ten years?”
As the district has not received adequate rains, there has been mass exodus to the urban areas in search of jobs, he said adding that his recommendations comprised solutions for all such problems faced by the farmers in the district.