B'lore: Ansari's Ignorance on Belgaum is Unpardonable, says Minister
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Feb 1: "Sorry, Vice President Hamid Ansari, your ignorance on Belgaum is unpardonable. It is part of Karnataka and not in Maharashtra," said Karnataka’s Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Bommai, son of former Karnataka Chief Minister S R Bommai and Belgaum district in-charge in the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP regime, strongly condemned the Vice President for mentioning in an official letter that Belgaum was part of Maharashtra.
The Minister, who addressed a news conference in Bangalore on Monday, disclosed that Ansari had written an official letter to Belgaum district deputy commissioner on January 11 on a complaint received by his office from Ms Shaheen Rafique Ahmad Basrarikatti of Belgaum against Khanapur Town Panachayat Committee.
Forwarding the complaint along with an official letter to the Belgaum district deputy commissioner, the Vice President had directed that appropriate action should be taken.
Hamid Ansari, B R Bommai
The action of the Vice President’s office in addressing the letter to Belgaum district deputy commissioner and mentioning the state of Maharashtra instead of stating Karnataka, had incurred the wrath of Kannada writers and organizations, including Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists.
Bommai lamented the Centre’s careless attitude in sending letters without properly checking the address and said such actions would create needless problems and exasperate already delicate situations.
"Belgaum is very much part of Karnataka. The people of Belgaum are happy in Karnataka. It is some politicians, who are repeatedly raking up the border issue and creating tensions,’’ he said asking the Centre to ensure that people sitting in Delhi should not add fuel to the situation.
The minister wanted the Centre to put an end to the boundary dispute so that it did not erupt into a controversy time and again, especially during elections in Maharashtra or Karnataka.
He promised to constitute quality assurance cell comprising of experts drawn from different institutions in the Department to monitor quality of all ongoing irrigation projects in the State
Experts in the field of infrastructure and irrigation drawn from Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, would be appointed in the proposed five-member cell. It would be entrusted with the task of monitoring all irrigation projects to ensure the quality works.
The regular monitoring of works would help to eliminate the delay and irregularities in the execution works, Bommai said.
In fact, the Department has already constituted a Task Force for monitoring the progress of irrigation projects.
Sixteen new gates would be installed at the Krishnarajasagar dam in Mandya district at the cost of Rs 7.5 crore and tenders have already been called to finalise works. The outflow of water into canals would not be affected during the works, he said.
The Department has commissioned a ``Remote Canal Flow and Level Monitoring System’’ on a pilot basis to measure the flow of water into Ghataprabha Left Bank Canal (GLBC).
The global system for mobile (GSM) technology had been installed at five locations to monitor the discharge of water from the dam to canals, he said.
The system, which was implemented by global firm, EMS Technology Ltd, would enable the department to effectively manage the water in irrigated areas and provide data on real time canal flow.
Stating that a vision plan for the next 10 years would be prepared for time bound implementation of projects, Bommai said irrigation facility had been provided to 1.20 lakh acres in the last one year. Projects in the Upper Tunga and Cauvery basins would irrigate additional 70,000 hectares in the next few months, he added.