Centre grants national project status to Upper Bhadra project, ignores Kaleshwaram

The Telangana government and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and then Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao had repeatedly requested the Central government to grant national project status to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.

Hyderabad: The discriminatory attitude of the Central government towards Telangana cropped up once again with the Centre granting national project status to Upper Bhadra project in Karnataka.

The Telangana government and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and then Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao had repeatedly requested the Central government to grant national project status to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. The MPs from Telangana too pursued the issue in Parliament.

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However, the then Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Parliament that the Centre has withdrawn the policy of granting national status to projects.

On Friday, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa tweeted, saying: “Upper Bhadra project gets national project status and will receive Rs.16,125 crore from Union government. I thank PM@narendramodi ji & Union Minister@gssjodhpur ji for supporting this project which will be a boon to farmers of Davanagere, Chitradurga, Tumakuru & Chikkamagaluru districts.”