All problems sorted out with Jarkiholis'

Hubballi: Water resources minister, D K Shivakumar, who has been in the eye of a storm with the Jarkiholi brothers strongly objecting to his alleged interference in the political affairs of Belagavi, claimed here on Wednesday that the issue had blown over and all was well in the party.

Mr Shivakumar, who was in the district to visit the Kalasa Banduri project site in Kanakumbi village, Khanapur taluk, told reporters here that all differences with the Jarkiholi brothers had been sorted out.  "All is well, everything is OK," he said.

But interestingly, the minister was accompanied on his visit to Kanakumbi by Belagavi rural MLA and state women Congress's wing president, Laxmi Hebbalkar, who is at the root of the trouble  between him and the Jarkiholi brothers.

Mr Shivakumar said the state government would take all legal action necessary to divert the Mahadayi water to the Malaprabha basin. Describing the Mahadayi tribunal's order as unjust to Karnataka, he said  Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had discussed the matter with legal experts and  it had been decided to challenge it in the Supreme Court. 

"Karnataka has been allocated 13.5 tmcft, including 8 tmcft for power generation. The government is committed to getting the rest of it's share and  to making use of the water allocated to it on priority to meet the needs of the farmers," he assured. 

Elaborating on the progress of the Kalasa Banduri project, he said Karnataka had so far spent Rs 250 crore on it  and another Rs 50 lakh would  be required to carry out the survey of the Bandura Nala project. 

"Around 731 hectares of forest land will be inundated by the Kalasa-Banduri project ,which will also require acquisition of another 192 hectares of private land. We are ready to face whatever objections Goa raises on ecological grounds We too are environment-friendly," he asserted, adding that before the tribunal order was published in the Central gazette an all- party meeting would be convened to discuss it.