CM Bommai extols union budget, Oppn flays

Haveri: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday expressed his happiness over the Rs 5,300 crore grants announced for the Upper Bhadra Project of Karnataka in the Union Budget.
Talking to reporters at Shedenur village in Byadgi village of Haveri district, he said the project has been one of the important irrigation projects of the state and it will irrigate over one lakh hectares of land in drought-hit and dry land in Central Karnataka.
Besides, it is also a drinking water project that will benefit lakhs of people, he said.
The state had forwarded a proposal to the Union government to declare this project as a national project and it was happy that Rs 5,300 crore grants had been announced, CM Bommai said.
“This is the first national project among the several irrigation projects of the state,” he added.
Reacting to farmers’ strong opposition to the acquisition of land for the Byadgi Industrial Corridor Project, Bommai said farmers were opposed since it is a fertile land.
It has been decided to take the degraded land for the industrial corridor project and not the fertile land, he said.
“For this reason, the order for the acquisition of land for the Byadgi Industrial Corridor was withdrawn. The deputy commissioner has been asked to find out the other places for the corridor project in the district,” he added.
Meanwhile, JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy said the project announced in the budget is to fool people ahead of the assembly election. “It appears that the projects have been announced to fool people in the election year,” he said.
Kumaraswamy expressed doubts whether the central government would give the promised fund announced for Upper Bhadra Project if the BJP loses in the ensuing assembly elections to be held this year.