Deve Gowda seeks special scheme to address Karnataka water crisis

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Monday urged the Centre to sanction a special scheme to address the water crisis in Karnataka.

Several parts of the state, including North Karnataka and Old Mysuru region, were facing water crisis. Even Bengaluru city is facing a severe crisis due to depletion of the ground water table. The Centre should come to the aid of the state to overcome this problem, he said while participating in the general discussion on the budget.

Urging the Centre to declare Upper Bhadra as a national project, he said this would help to address the irrigation and drinking water crisis in the central Karnataka region.

Noting that the total 19 Lok Sabha members won from the BJP-JD(S) coalition, Gowda said this indicated that the people of Karnataka kept faith in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government. So the Centre should come to the help of people of Karnataka to address the water crisis, he addded.

He also said that the agriculture sector is facing a severe crisis across the country and the government should help the farming community.

On the Opposition allegations that Andhra Pradesh and Bihar got highest allocations in the budget, Gowda said that nothing wrong in these two states getting highest allocations as they too need to develop.