Belagavi: December 29: After several decades of struggle, Karnataka state has finally received green signal to the Kalasa – Banduri project from the Centre.
“I am extremely happy to announce that our struggle and fight for our legitimate right has met with success with the Centre clearing the Kalasa – Banduri project today,” Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced in the Assembly on Thursday.
Giving details of the project, Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol said total 3.9 TMC water will be utilized by Karnataka for both irrigation and drinking water purpose.
“While 1.72 TMC water will be from Kalasa, 2.18 TMC water will be from Banduri. We had submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Centre and were awaiting clearance. Today we got what we had asked for,” Karjol added.
It may be recalled that this project had become controversial following objection from the neighbouring state of Goa as well as political fight between the Congress, BJP and the JDS.
While the Congress had accused the BJP of not being serious in getting the project cleared, the BJP, on the other hand, had charged the Congress of violating the atmosphere through its Goa counterpart.
Karjol complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Shekhawat and Union Minister Prahllad Joshi for their untiring efforts in getting the project cleared.
“The determination with which our Chief Minister followed up the project with the Centre is really laudable,” Karjol added.
