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No clandestine release of water to Tamil Nadu: Yeddyurappa

Making a point: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa speaking to presspersons at the Gorur dam helipad near Hassan on Saturday.

HASSAN: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Saturday made it clear that the Government was not releasing water clandestinely to Tamil Nadu from the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir. However, water was being released to comply with the directions of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. Therefore, the allegation made by the Opposition was baseless, the Chief Minister told presspersons at the helipad at Gorur dam.

He was on his way to Banavase village where he inaugurated a renovated 800-year-old temple.

Whether the reservoirs were full or not, the quantum of water allocated to Tamil Nadu had to be released according to the guidelines laid down by the tribunal. Previous governments too had followed the directions of the tribunal, he said.

The Chief Minister said action would be initiated against officials who did not obey government orders regarding transfers. He was replying to presspersons who pointed out that a police officer transferred to Madikeri as Superintendent of Police did not report for duty and managed to get another posting. Police officers posted to the Anti-Naxal Squad were also not reporting for duty.

On the present power crisis in the State, Mr. Yeddyurappa said this was because previous governments did not concentrate on power generation. Now the Government was trying to get power from the Central grid as well from other states. Chhattisgarh had promised to supply 1,000 MW soon. The Bellary Thermal Power Station was generating 200 MW now, which would go up to 500 MW before the end of the year.

“In the next two years, Karnataka will be self-sufficient in power generation as funds have been set aside in the budget to ensure the generation of 10,000 MW,” he said.

Referring to the proposal for an ultra mega thermal power project at Tadari, Mr. Yeddyurappa said experts were in favour of it though environmentalists were up in arms against the project. The Government would go ahead with the project, he said.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said that even before Karnataka High Court had directed State Government to put on hold mining in forest areas, he had announced in the Assembly that the Government would come out with a mining policy, which would ban the export of iron ore.

Every effort would be made to see to it that the State’s mineral wealth was not looted.

On regularising the services of daily wage employees, the Chief Minister said the Government would soon take a decision on the matter.

When the failure of the potato crop in Hassan district was brought to his notice, he advised farmers to insure their crops because it would help the Government to arrange for payment of compensation.

Later, at a public function in Banavase village, the Chief Minister directed Deputy Commissioner Naveen Raj Singh to take action against traders who had supplied spurious seed potato to farmers.

He criticised the functioning of the Agriculture Department and said had it alerted Government about the possibility of blight affecting the potato crop, the Government would have extended the time for paying insurance premium up to the end of August.

The Chief Minister announced that from next year, the Government would take the responsibility of supplying seed potato to farmers.

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