Forest department agreed to hand over 500 acres for Yettinahole water project: DK Shivakumar

DK Shivakumar. Pic/PTI

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the Forest Department has agreed to hand over 500 acres of land, which is crucial to the progress of the Yettinahole water project, reported ANI.

"The Forest Department has handed over 500 acres of forest land for the Yettinahole water project. In return, the Revenue Department has agreed to hand over an equal area of revenue land to the Forest Department. The process will be completed soon," Shivakumar said on Thursday after a meeting with Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre at Vikasa Soudha.

The meeting, which was also attended by officials and TB Jayachandra, the Karnataka government's Special Representative in Delhi, discussed the progress of the Yettinahole and Upper Bhadra projects. "The officials have identified challenges facing the projects and we discussed solutions in the meeting. There were bottlenecks at 20 different places over a stretch of 260 km pertaining to Forest land. We conducted a joint survey involving the Forest Department and Revenue Department, and the issue is now resolved. The work will start soon," he added, reported ANI.

A compensation of Rs 51 crore is needed to be given to farmers in some places, of which Rs 10 crore has already been released. "There is a difference between the Forest department and Revenue department over the compensation and this issue will be discussed in the Cabinet meeting," Shivakumar said, reported ANI.

"The balancing reservoir in Doddaballapura taluk is pending and preparations are on to start the work. In the first phase, water will be pumped to a distance of 48 km by next month. A technical committee has been formed to explore using water that is currently flowing into the sea," he added. When asked about a court issuing a non-bailable warrant against former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in a POCSO case, he said he wasn't aware of the development, reported ANI.

Meanwhile, replying to a query about whether attempts were being made to suppress the truth in the case involving Kannada superstar Darshan Thoogudeepa, he said, "I don't have much information on that case. But it is a normal practice for the police to operate outside the glare of the public in high-profile cases due to security reasons."

The murder of a 33-year-old from Chitradurga, Renukaswamy, whose body was found in Kamakshipalya, Bengaluru, on June 9 has political implications with demands for justice from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community.

When asked if any minister has attempted to influence the above-mentioned case, Shivkumar said, "No one has spoken to me about it. I don't have any information on this." On Kumaraswamy's statement that he would intervene if the government tried to cover up the case, Shivkumar said, "He can intervene now also, anyone can do so."

(With inputs from ANI)