Yettinahole: Can’t pay uniform rate for land acquisition, says Karnataka govt

The Karnataka government told the Legislative Assembly that the demand by farmers for higher compensation towards their land meant to be acquired for the Yettinahole project cannot be met, virtually dead-ending the Rs 23,000 crore venture.

The Yettinahole project, first approved in 2014, aims to provide drinking water to Chikmagalur, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagar, Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts from the Netravati river in Hassan. Its cost was estimated at Rs 12,912 crore then, shooting up to Rs 23,251 crore now.

The biggest bottleneck in making the project work is the construction of a balancing reservoir at Byragondlu, for which farmers of Koratagere taluk in Tumakuru have demanded compensation equal to what their counterparts in the neighbouring Doddaballapur taluk have been offered.

“It’s the same water body that falls in two taluks, but one side is getting paid more than the other,” Koratagere MLA and former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara said, raising a question on the project.

According to Law Minister JC Madhuswamy, the farmers of Doddaballapur can be given Rs 32 lakh per acre whereas those in Koratagere will have to settle for Rs 8 lakh. “As per rules, we cannot give Rs 32 lakh to [Koratagere] farmers,” he categorically said, adding that some other way had to be found to fix the issue.

Parameshwara hit out at the government for being “rigid” and delaying the entire project. “All that it’ll take to compensate these farmers is an additional Rs 319 crore. Instead of paying this, the cost of the entire project was allowed to escalate to Rs 23,000 crore,” he said, adding that the government had already spent Rs 8,200 crore.

This led to a heated exchange between Madhuswamy and Parameshwara, both accusing each other of being responsible for the quagmire.

Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol said 90% of the work was done. “There are issues with the remaining 10% that we’re trying to resolve. We want to do a trial run and give people confidence that the project will work,” he said.

Also, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had to intervene. “This is an unprecedented land acquisition issue,” he said. “This project was born in 2010 when I was the water resources minister and I know all about it. A suitable decision will be taken,” he said.

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