Chitradurga, Jan 23 (IANS): The bandh call given to press for the implementation of the Upper Bhadra Project evoked a good response in Chitradurga city of Karnataka on Tuesday.
The agitation was organised by the Jilla Neeravari Anusthana Horata Samithi and supported by farmers, pro-Kannada activists, labour and progressive organisations.
The agitation began at 6.30 a.m. from the Gandhi Circle in Chitradurga city and shops and commercial establishments remained closed.
The police department had beefed up security to avoid any untoward incident as the controversy surrounding the implementation of the project has taken a political turn.
The Upper Bhadra Project is one of the important projects of the State and it is expected to irrigate over one lakh hectares of land in drought-hit Central Karnataka. Besides, it is also a drinking water project that will benefit lakhs of villages.
The state had forwarded a proposal to the Union Government to declare this project as a national project and an announcement in this regard was made by the ruling BJP in poll-bound Karnataka two months before the Assembly elections.
The Centre had also declared the Upper Bhadra scheme as a national project and announced an outlay of Rs 5,300 crore for it. The project was expected to consolidate support for the BJP.
However, after the BJP suffered a humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections in Karnataka, the project came to a standstill.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently chided that after tall claims, the Centre had not released a single rupee for the Upper Bhadra project, which will change the scenario in the central Karnataka region.
Siddaramaiah stated that the Centre and then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had made tall claims of declaring the Upper Bhadra as a national project and releasing Rs 5,300 crore for it.
“Not a single rupee has been released in this regard till date. I have written a letter to the Centre in this regard. Our minister had met the person concerned and even I have made a visit. Six months have passed, and nothing is moving,” Siddaramaiah stated.
Siddaramaiah maintained that he would allot money for the project in this year’s budget and he would allot more funds in the coming years.