Belagavi: The state's legal team will inform the Supreme Court on September 20 about its inability to supply water to Tamil Nadu when it hardly has water to meet the needs of over 600 villages in Mandya, Ramnagar and Mysore districts, according to Industries Minister, R V Deshpande.
Speaking to reporters here, Mr Deshpande said the government intended to hold a crucial meeting on the issue a day prior to the court’s hearing.
“Although Karnataka is supposed to release water to Tamil Nadu by September 19 or 20, the state government believes it can convince the Supreme Court otherwise,” he maintained.
Moving on, he said the government had decided to allot land for an office of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in Belagavi.
The minister, who met local industrialists in Belagavi on Friday, revealed he had a meeting with Union Commerce Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman in New Delhi soon after she announced the DGFT for Belagavi in response to demand from local industrialists and offered to provide all support.
“The state government will allot the required land in Belagavi for the DGFT. A team of officials from the Centre has inspected the land in Kanbargi on Belagavi's outskirts for it. We expect the DGFT to give a big boost to the export of local industrial products,” he said, adding that Ms Sitaraman had informed him the office was being opened in Belagavi as the city had proved its export potential in cast iron and auto components by its exports to the European Union and West Asia.
“She also informed me that her ministry would ask the Agricultural Product Export Development Corporation to study the feasibility of exporting agro products from Belagavi. The city’s airport , which is being expanded, will be able to handle big cargo aircraft in future,” he said
