Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MD)

Mangaluru, Sep 19: Health minister U T Khader on Saturday September 19 said that former chief minister and now union law minister D V Sadananda Gowda should have held a detailed discussion before finalizing the Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Project, and that the Congress state government is committed to provide water to Kolar, even it means providing just 'a glass of drinking water'. He also said that it was too soon to draw conclusions about the success of the project, and that it is in god's hands.

Addressing a press meet Circuit House here, Khader said, "D V Sadananda Gowda should have had a detailed discussion about the Yettinahole project and then taken a decision. Water, air and soil are the wealth of our country. Detailed Project Report (DPR) worth Rs 200 crore was prepared when H D Kumaraswamy was the chief minister. Tender process and project initiation was done during the tenure of D V Sadananda Gowda. The government is still committed to provide water to Kolar district, even it is at least one glass of drinking water.

When asked why the district administration had scheduled a meeting on the project at zilla panchayat at the same time as the one on 10 questions to elected representatives at Roshni Nilaya, Khader said, "I have spoken to minister for water resources M B Patil and district incharge minister Ramanath Rai about this project. This (at zilla panchayat) is a meeting where we will try to give information about the project. It was not necessary, but the situation is such that we had to convene the meeting."

He further said, "No one can come to any conclusion about the Yettinahole project now. It is in god's hands. No one say whether the project will complete or not. The project has already started and it is of no use opposing it now. There are many projects which have been completed even though there was lot of opposition from people. There are 120 to 130 lakes in Kolar and are all dried up."

When the media asked how much water was required for Kolar, of which he is the district incharge, Khader called up the DC of Kolar to get the information.

After speaking to the Kolar DC, Khader said that the district requires 7 TMC of water, of which 3 TMC will be from Yettinahole project and 4 TMC from Challaghatta valley project. Of this, 3 TMC will be for drinking water and the remaining will be used for irrigation, he said.

Asked if the government would keep its promise to take excess water from Dakshina Kannada only during monsoons and who would be responsible if it is taken during other months too, Khader said, "We will have a legal discussion on this matter. There is also a plan to convert drinking water from the sea water. It is not a small project, it will cost us more."

Moving on to other issues, U T Khader expressed strong opposition to the centre's move to discontinue Indira and Rajiv Gandhi stamps and said it was a 'politically immature' decision.

"Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi worked hard to develop India. The whole world agrees that Indira Gandhi was an Iron Lady. Rajiv Gandhi converted the country from agricultural India to technology-driven India, which is a matter of pride for all of us. They both were a great leaders and role models for everyone. Let the centre bring in new stamps but discontinuing the exisiting stamps is not right," he said.