Bridge-cum-barrage to come up on the Tungabhadra near Chikalparvi at a cost of ₹397 crore

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah speaking at the Kalyana Karnataka Utsav in Kalaburagi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that his government is making sincere efforts at implementing irrigation and industrial projects across Kalyana Karnataka to speed up development in the region.

“A bridge-cum-barrage will be built across the Tungabhadra near Chikalparvi in Manvi taluk of Raichur district at a cost of ₹397 crore. Work on Yaddalli-Kachuru Lift Irrigation Project in Sedam taluk of Kalaburagi district will begin soon. The State government is also taking steps to develop an economic corridor between Bidar and Bengaluru to boost economic development of Kalyana Karnataka,” he said.

He was speaking after hoisting the national flag to mark Kalyana Karnataka Utsav in Kalaburagi on Tuesday.

“A total of 44 multi-village drinking water supply schemes are being implemented at a total cost of ₹8,290 crore to supply piped water to 2,283 villages across Kalyana Karnataka. The State government has allocated ₹100 crore for constructing 400 community toilets in the region. Out of the 1,100 Arivu Kendras (awareness centres) established in the seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka, 1,021 centres have been upgraded with digital libraries, while 12.33 lakh children are enrolled in these centers,” he said.

Constructing Mini Vidhana Soundhas in 18 new taluks in the region, establishing the Vachana Museum in Kalaburagi, developing the traditional water supply system Karez in Bidar district, constructing cold storage units in Koppal, Ballari and Raichur and a new textiles park in Raichur through a public-private partnership are some of the upcoming projects in the region, he added.

Accusing the previous BJP-led government of financial mismanagement and corruption, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the BJP government took up projects worth crores of rupees without allocating funds in the budget.

“Moreover, the BJP-led Central government has denied the State’s rightful share. Despite all these challenges, our government has implemented guarantee schemes effectively and is providing ₹5,000 crore annually to Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB),” the Chief Minister said.