Alamatti Dam Issue: Projects to be completed on 'war footing'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, APRIL 28. The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, said here today that the work on the execution of all projects coming under Scheme A of the Bachawat Award on sharing of Krishna waters would be completed on a war footing while the question of the State's demand for raising the height of the Alamatti Dam to 524 metres would be taken up with another tribunal to be constituted by the Centre.

He told presspersons after a marathon meeting of floor leaders of all parties and experts that the Supreme Court's verdict on fixing the height of the Almatti Dam at 519.6 metres was only an interim order and not a ``permanent fixture''.

He said the leaders and experts were of the unanimous opinion that the irrigation projects under Scheme A including Alamatti Left and Alamatti Right Bank canals, Mulwadi Lift Irrigation projects and the Hippargi projects should be given top priority.

Mr. Krishna said there was a misconception among the people that the Supreme Court's decision not to raise the height of the dam above 519.6 metres was a permanent fixture. It was not so and the issue of raising the dam's height to 524 metres would be taken up with the tribunal to be constituted by the Centre.

He said the meeting was also of the opinion that the State should prevail upon the Centre to constitute the tribunal at the earliest.

Mr. Krishna said there was another misconception about the State's case for raising the height of the Dam to 524 metres. He said it was necessary for power generation.

The Chief Minister clarified that Chamundi Power Company, entrusted with the work of power generation, had come out with a report stating that 2,800 million units of power could be generated only if the height of the dam was raised to 524 metres. Now with the height at 519.6 metres, the power generated could only be 2,056 million units - a loss of 25 per cent.

He said the Government was able to get the copy of the Supreme Court's judgment only on Friday and that copies of it would be made available to leaders of all parties and experts and another meeting would be convened at the earliest to take up a detailed discussion.

Those who participated in the meeting included the Law Minister, Mr. D. B. Chandre Gowda, the Home Minister, Mr. Mallikarjuna Kharge, the Major and Minor Irrigation Minister, Mr. H. K. Patil, the Social Welfare Minister, Mr. Kagodu Thimmappa, the Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Mr. M. Y. Ghorpade, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Jagdish Shettar, the Leader of the Opposition in the Council, Mr. K. H. Srinivas, Mr. M. C. Nanaiah, Mr. D. H. Shankara Murthy and Dr. Tanga, MLCs, the leader of the JD(U) Group in the Assembly, Mr. P. G. R. Sindhia, the former Chief Minister, Mr. M. Veerappa Moily, and the Chairman of the newly-constituted committee to study the condition of Kannadigas living in border areas, Mr. Vatal Nagaraj.

Mr. H. G. Balakrishna, former judge of the Karnataka High Court and some experts on water disputes and the Chief Secretary, Mr. B. K. Bhattacharya, were present.

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Section  : Regional
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