River linking: Won't agree until water share is final, says Bommai

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Tuesday that Karnataka will stick to its stand that peninsular rivers should not be interlinked before the state's share of waters is finalised.

Bommai said this after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the Budget 2022-23 that draft detailed project reports (DPR) of five river links namely Damanganga-Pinjal, Par-Tapi-Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Cauvery have been finalized. Implementation will be done once a consensus is reached among the beneficiary states, she said.

Of these, the Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Cauvery river linking projects concern Karnataka.

"While preparing the DPRs, our state's share should be decided properly. Under the UPA, our share had reduced and we objected. Now, till our share is finalized, we don't want the DPRs to be ready," Bommai told reporters. "Our share has to go up in Krishna, Cauvery and Pennar. Based on our need and the amount of water generated in our area, we've made our arguments. That's our stand," he said.

As for the budget overall, Bommai said it reflects the government's intentions to revive the economy in a post-pandemic situation. The budget has taken care of all sectors, while also balancing out measures for both rural and urban areas, he said. The Centre has also maintained the fiscal deficit at 4%, which was one of the requests made by the state government, he pointed out.

From the perspective of the common man, it focuses on basic infrastructure including additional funds for Jal Jeevan Mission, health infrastructure, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana. While all this will strengthen rural India, urban development, too, has received emphasis. With an increased allocation for National Highways and Urban transport system, Karnataka too will benefit from it. Further, there is a special emphasis on MSME sector. Karnataka has the most number of MSMEs in the country and this year's budget will be a boost in that direction too, he added.

Earlier in the day, Bommai said he hoped that the budget would give prominence to infrastructure and social welfare schemes.

"Declaring the Upper Bhadra Project as a national project is not something that will be announced in the Budget. Andhra Pradesh had opposed this, but not anymore. This is in the final stages. And, the suburban rail project for Bengaluru is already approved," he said.

Watch the latest DH videos: