Karnataka govt asks depts to speed up Yettinahole drinking water project

Bengaluru: In a bid to expedite the workson the Rs 13,000 crore Yettinahole drinking water project, the state government has directed officials of various departments involved in it to make concerted efforts to remove any bottlenecks, including that of acquisition of land.

This was stated by Water Resources minister MB Patil after a review meeting on the progress of the Yettinahole and KC Valley projects, chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The issues of land acquisition, securing clearance from the Environmental and Forest departments, payment of compensation and other related matters were discussed, Patil told reporters.

Revenue minister Kagodu Thimmappa, Health minister K R Rameshkumar, Law minister T B Jayachandra, Agriculture minister Krishna?Byregowda, Transport minister Ramalinge Gowda, former Chief Minister and Chikkaballapura Lok Sabha member M Veerappa Moily and senior officials, including Chief Secretary Aravind Jadhav were present at the meeting.

Noting that land acquisition issue came up for discussion in detail, he said, "we have directed the officials concerned to make co-ordinated efforts and remove whatever bottlenecks coming in the way of the execution of the project".

We have given top priority to implement the project and directed the officials concerned to work-out a strategy to execute the project in a time-bound manner", he said.

The state cabinet had recently given its green signal to form a separate Board to oversee the implementation of both the Yettinahole as well as Upper Bhadra Project.