The Karnataka government has directed officials to accelerate land acquisition for Upper Krishna Project Phase 3 and prioritise compensation and rehabilitation for people displaced by the backwaters of the Almatti reservoir. The instructions were issued by Water Resources Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy at a meeting in Vidhana Soudha on Monday.
The project is expected to affect land in 184 villages. The minister said pending compensation for beneficiaries of Upper Krishna Project Phases 1 and 2 must be paid on priority, while land acquisition for Phase 3 should be carried out according to government rules and guidelines.
Officials were instructed not to act at their discretion and to follow the government’s prescribed procedures. Ministers and legislators from the project area may submit written suggestions on the stages of land acquisition, the minister said.
Under a government order issued last year, compensation rates have been fixed for agricultural land on a per-acre basis. However, officials have reported confusion over compensation rates for buildings. The department has been asked to seek clarification in such cases, and the issue will be brought to the Chief Minister’s attention before suitable guidelines are issued, according to the report.
The meeting also discussed the order in which villages should be taken up. Of the 184 villages facing submergence, 79 are already at different stages of the land acquisition process and will receive priority. The 87 villages for which notifications are yet to be issued will be considered based on their flood-affected status. Villages in the final stage will be taken up later.
Rehabilitation planning has been assigned to the respective gram panchayats, which are responsible for identifying land for resettlement centres. The minister warned of legal action over allegations that some people had entered into sale agreements worth crores of rupees in rehabilitation centres. A separate meeting on rehabilitation and the interests of displaced people will be held soon.
Minister M.B. Patil said the government aims to distribute compensation for approximately 15,000 acres during the current year out of a total of 75,563 acres. In the Babaleshwar area, where 5,600 acres are involved, compensation should immediately be paid for at least 1,000 acres, he said. Although funds have already been released for 18 villages, no village from Vijayapura district was included, according to Patil.
Responding to the demand, the water resources minister assured the meeting that the proposed ₹3,000 crore allocation would be distributed among six Assembly constituencies in the project area, with ₹500 crore earmarked for each constituency.
The meeting was attended by M.B. Patil, Laxman Savadi, Vijayanand Kashappanavar, Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Umashree, legislators R.B. Timmapur, J.T. Patil and Umesh Meti, Legislative Council member P.H. Poojar, Rajya Sabha member Narayana Sa Bhandage, Water Resources Department Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta and senior officials of the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited.
After the Phase 3 meeting, the minister also reviewed land acquisition related to the backwaters of Ramadurga Lake in Devadurga taluk, affecting Govindapalli and Karadigudda villages. Officials were directed to study villages affected by the backwaters and submit a report on compensation for 243.43 acres of affected land.
