Bengaluru: The Upper Bhadra Project has been given national project status by the Centre’s high-powered committee on Tuesday, said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday February 16.
CM Bommai said that this is the state’s first project to achieve the status and it will change the irrigation environment in Central Karnataka.
“The national project tag will help us get Rs. 12,500 crore from the Centre and expedite the ambitious irrigation project that will change Central Karnataka from a water-scarce to a water-rich,” he said.
“Former Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa entrusted me with making Karnataka water rich by properly utilising the excess water available in the Krishna and Cauvery basins. In 2009, we also began work on the Upper Bhadra Project. Water is currently flowing to the Vani Vilas Sagar Dam, resulting in a water-rich region,” said CM Bommai.
He went on to say that the government is committed to protecting its water rights. “We will also begin water conservation programmes to assist the State in maintaining resources,” he added.
CM Bommai thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat for giving the Upper Bhadra Project as a national project.
