Bengaluru: In what could become a setback for Karnataka, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has added caveats for releasing funds for the Upper Bhadra Project under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana -Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (PMKSY-AIBP) Scheme.
In a letter dated September 5, Jal Shakti Secretary Debashree Mukherjee noted that providing funds will depend on compilation of updated financial details for the project, including the expenditure made,
balance cost and the updated eligible central assistance based on the balance cost. It also depends on available funds and geographical distribution, the letter noted.
Mukherjee was responding to letters by the additional chief secretary of the Water Resources Department dated August 16, 2023; June 19, 2024 and August 3, 2024, seeking extension of central assistance.
Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil lambasted the BJP-led Union government for “throwing Budgetary promises to the wind.”
“In her 2023-24 Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman had stated that Rs 5,300-crore central assistance would be given to the Upper Bhadra Project to provide sustainable micro irrigation and fill up surface tanks for drinking water in the drought-prone Central Karnataka region,” Patil said.
Noting that the Budgetary promise was preceded by the recommendation of the Public Investment Board (PIB) of the Union Finance Ministry to name the Upper Bhadra Project as a national project, Patil said the Centre’s “backtracking” weakens federal polity.
“Alongside the political fight against the Centre, I will discuss with the CM and the Cabinet on whether to take legal recourse and move the Supreme Court,” the minister said and added that a total expenditure of Rs 9,713.28 crore had been incurred in the scheme to date.
Upper Bhadra Project is a major lift irrigation scheme under implementation in the Central Karnataka region. With a plan to irrigate 2,25,515 hectares by micro irrigation in drought-prone districts of Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Tumakuru and Davanagere, the project got an administrative approval to the re-revised DPR amounting to Rs 21,473.67 crore as per a government order dated December 16, 2020, when the BJP-led government headed by B S Yediyurappa was in power. Last week, the Cabinet expressed deep displeasure over the National Wildlife Board (NWB) not clearing the Kalasa-Banduri Nala (Mahadayi) drinking water project.