Krishna projects to be over in 7 years

BANGALORE: The state government will complete all the pending projects in Krishna river water basin within seven years, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai asserted in the Council here on Tuesday.“We have the necessary wherewithal and political will to complete the projects and irrigate about 5.30 lakh hectares,” he said, in response to the issue raised by S R Patil (Congress).“I have not differentiated between scheme A and scheme B projects. Ever since we came to power, we have taken a comprehensive view of all the schemes and allocated funds besides regularly monitoring the projects. I am confident that we will be able to utilise all 177 TMC ft of water allocated by the Krishna river water tribunal,” the minister said.On whether the Centre had provided funds for irrigation projects, Bommai replied in the negative. “The practice of Centre giving funds to irrigation projects started when H D Deve Gowda became prime minister in 1996,” he added. On completing projects that benefit Bijapur and Bagalkot, Bommai said four lift irrigation projects will be completed before March 2013 that would enable utilising 83.81 TMC of water, in addition to irrigating over 3.51 lakh hectares.