Mangaluru: With Yettinahole becoming a bite too big for the ruling Congress party to swallow, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that a meeting on the project bringing together the ones for and the ones against the project will be convened soon.
It may be recalled that Yettinahole project, which is being implemented by the state government to feed water to parched district of the state by diverting river Nethravathi is being opposed by Dakshina Kannada. However, the state government has been vehemently wanting to implement the project.
Speaking in this direction, CM, who was in the city on Friday said that the expert scientific consultants have mentioned that there will not be any drinking water problem for Dakshina Kannada in case the project is implemented.
“The main intention of this project is to divert excess water from water rich areas to the dry areas of bayaluseeme (plains area). Soon, a meeting will be held wherein the ones in favour of the project and those who are not, are invited. Due to the Cauvery water chaos, Yettinahole meeting could not be convened recently”, he said about Yettinahole project.
Cauvery Water Crisis: New hope for state
Speaking to reporters at the Mangaluru International Airport, the CM said that Cauvery water situation has been fully reviewed by the committee sent by the Central Government. “As per our expectations, justice will be served to people of Karnataka in the next hearing of the Apex Court on 18 October”, he said.
He went on to say, “The Cauvery basin was studied extensively by the committee as they visited several places of their interest. The committee has derived to a conclusion that there is indeed a severe water shortage in the river. A report will be submitted to the Supreme Court so that they review the situation at hand. This gives us immense hope on winning the water crisis and deliver justice to Karnataka.
Mahadayi River matter to be settled
According to Siddaramaiah, a meeting will be organized in Mumbai on October 21 to decide about the Mahadayi Issue which will also be attended by Chief Ministers of Goa and Maharashtra as well. He also said that he has written to the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of the two states to settle Mahadayi water dispute as per the directions of the tribunal.
No administrator for Ramachandrapura mutt
Siddaramaiah cleared the air about the issue of appointing an administrator for Ramachandrapura Mutt as he said that there is no plan from the Government’s side of taking over the Gokarna Mahabaleshwar Temple form the mutt. “I have personally not looked into the matter, but the High Court has sought Government stand after the Public Interest Litigation was filed. For now, there will not an administrator appointed for Ramachandrapura mutt”, he said.
Denies allegations about son
Revealing that the rumour against his son was false, he said, “The allegation that my son convened a meeting with Government Officials is false. I had introduced my son to the officials and there is nothing wrong with it. There is no truth in the allegation against him.”
Resplendent welcome
CM was accorded a traditional welcome at the airport keeping in mind the Dasara fervour. Traditional pili vesha was staged in front of the CM. His regular welcoming ceremony by the armed police added value to his fans and supporters. It was disheartening to see that few party workers had thrown the placards that carried messages saying ‘Anna Daatha Siddaramaiah’ (Provider of food) and others as soon as he left the airport. But they were cleared by the responsible party workers soon enough. The tigers however, did not stop dancing as soon as the CM left the building.
Ministers Ramanath Rai, U T Khadar, MLC Ivan D’Souza, MLAs Abhayachandra Jain, Moideen Bava, J R Lobo, Mayor Harinath and Youth Congress head Mithun Rai were also present.
Park at Bantwal Cross road inauguarted
A park at the crossroad in Bantwal which was built at a cost of Rs 1.40 cr was inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the afternoon. The park was built under the Environment Board of Bantwal Taluk funded by the town municipality.
