Vijayapura, Sep 6: Reiterating that the state government was committed to increasing the height of Alamatti dam from 518 meters to 524 meters, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar today said that compensation amount for the land acquired would be announced in a week’s time.
Addressing a press conference after offering bagina at Alamatti dam, the DCM, who also handles the irrigation portfolio, said, “We will decide on the compensation after a meeting with the CM and people’s representatives. The land acquisition leaders and people’s representatives must give their consent for land acquisition without any appeals. A separate decision will be taken on the rehabilitation. It is our conviction to provide water to farmers which is currently flowing into the sea.”
“MLA Yashwantharaya Gouda Patil has informed me that there was no specific demand on the compensation amount. Shivananda Patil and M B Patil have also shared their suggestion on this. The Centre may announce a Gazette notification anytime considering our constant pressure. We want to utilise our share of water,” he said.
“The CM and I had appealed to the Union Jal Shakthi minister to issue the gazette notification. We have met the Union minister at least 5 times and submitted a memorandum. This has been brought to the attention of the PM as well,” he informed.
“A meeting of the riparian states had been postponed in the past. The Union minister has assured us that the meeting would be called again. We had convened several meetings on land acquisition. The compensation amount was fixed during Basavaraj Bommai’s time. The local representatives had expressed that the compensation was not adequate and hence we had called for a meeting of farmers and local legislators. This decision has been brought to the attention of the CM as well,” he said.
“As many as 20,000 farmers have moved the court with respect to compensation. Many lawyers are trying to mislead the farmers, but the farmers need to realise this. Our government has shown the commitment by announcing this project in the budget,” he added.
