Krishna valley funds safe, says Khadse

The State would soon disburse the Rs 37 crore first installment of interest on the open market borrowing. The State’s budget has provisions for the repayment. The Sena-BJP government had won investors’ confidence, he said.

The MKVDC mopped up around Rs 1000 crore at the first stage while it would raise another Rs 650 crore in the second phase ofopen market borrowing. A fresh issue of bonds was delayed in anticipation of the Centre’s decision to issue tax-free irrigation bonds, the minister said.

Tenacious efforts, especially by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, has helped to clear at least 10 major irrigation projects in Satara and Kolhapur districts, Khadse said.

He further refuted the reports of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh creating hurdles for certain Maharashtra projects. The MKVDC would complete all its 842 projects, together impounding about 800 tmc ft water in the Krishna valley by the year 2000, he said.

GOVT MISMANAGED FUNDS SAYS CONGRESS MLA: Congress MLA from Kolhapur, Digvijay Khanvilkar, has demanded the resignation of the Maharashtra government for "mismanaging" funds meant for the MKVDC. Nearly two dozen contractors working on the project from his district had not been paid for work rendered in the last three months.

Khanvilkar said today that the government owed contractors working on the project in Kolhapur Rs 62.65 lakhfor the months of March, April and May 1998. As a result work has been stopped on the project. This might once again set the exchequer back by several crore rupees, he said.

Khanvilkar alleged that the government was unable to pay these legitimate dues to the contractors as it had diverted funds meant for the Krishna Valley development to other projects.