‘Not even a quarter of the total requirement’: Siddaramaiah slams Rs 5,300 crore allocation for Upper Bhadra project

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said the project is estimated to cost around Rs 23,000 crore. The Union government has agreed to fund only around a quarter of the project.

Karnataka's Opposition leader Siddaramaiah (File)

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

The Union Budget announcement to allocate Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project in poll-bound Karnataka came under fire from the Opposition Congress, which slammed the Union government for failing to allocate even a quarter of the total funds required to implement the project.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said the project is estimated to cost around Rs 23,000 crore. The Union government has agreed to fund only around a quarter of the project. “Moreover, it hasn’t clarified whether the allocation was for a period of one year or five years,” he said, noting that the implementation of this project was possible only after the resolution of a dispute. Till then, money allocated cannot be spent, the former chief minister said.

The Budget also came under fire for not allocating a “single paisa” for key irrigation projects such as the Upper Krishna, Mahadayi and Mekedatu projects. “There were expectations that the Budget would set aside funds for sub-urban railway and Metro connectivity. This too has turned out to be false,” he said.

Ahead of polls in Tamil Nadu in 2023, Rs 1.03 lakh crore-worth highway projects were announced in the state. “This year, apart from the Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra project, Karnataka has not benefited at all,” Siddaramaiah said.

“The Budget is an extension of the ‘Ameer Ke Saath, Gareeb Ka Vinaash (For the rich, destruction of the poor)’ policy of the Union government,” he said. The agricultural sector, which employs 54 per cent of the nation’s workforce, has been completely ignored, Siddaramaiah added.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar said the Budget was an “election budget” but added that it has not benefited the farmers. “The Budget was presented only for political purposes,” he said.

Karnataka Congress, in a tweet, said there is no deadline for the sub-urban rail funds in the Budget. “This is an example of the attitude the Centre has towards the state government,” Congress said in a tweet.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram