Reiterating that his government was committed to developing Mandya district, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said two new lift irrigation projects – one at Bookanakere to be implemented at a cost of ₹265 crore and another at Santhebachahalli at a cost of ₹212 crore – have been sanctioned. Already, a sum of ₹25 crore has been released for filling up 11 lakes in the taluk, he added.
Bookanakere village in the taluk happens to be the birth place of former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone for various development works in K.R. Pet town and distributing benefits to the beneficiaries of various schemes, Mr. Bommai said K.R. Pet taluk will get about ₹420 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission to supply drinking water to every house in the taluk. Out of three taluks identified under the Mission, K.R. Pet was getting sizable aid, he told the gathering.
Referring to the modernisation of irrigation canals in Mandya, he said the irrigation canals sourcing water from Cauvery and Hemavathi rivers will be modernised on priority. The work on modernisation of Hemavathy and Left Bank Canal will be completed at the earliest.
Claiming that his government was committed to farmers’ welfare, Mr. Bommai said the Mysugar Factory will resume its operations in August and all arrangements in this regard had been made. The government gave funds for restarting the factory in Mandya and it will start crushing sugarcane supplied by farmers of the area from next month.
Mr. Bommai said the “Raitha Vidya Nidhi” scheme has been launched for supporting the educational needs of children of farmers and urged the people to make use of the schemes introduced by the government.
Besides distributing benefits under various schemes, the Chief Minister also felicitated SSLC students from K.R. Pet who scored the highest marks in the recent examination.
Former Chief Minister B.SYediyurappa was present.
Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation Govind Karjol, Minister in charge of Mandya district K. Gopalaiah, Minister for Sericulture, Youth Empowerment and Sports and K.R. Pet MLA K.C. Narayana Gowda, Minister for Revenue R. Ashok, Minister for Social Welfare and Backward Class Kota Srinivasa Poojary and others were present.