Naidu’s allegations on Krishna waters baseless’

Munde made it clear that his government will utilise its quota of 594 tmc Krishna river water by the year 2000. “At this juncture, it was improper on the part of Naidu to raise the controversy,” Munde remarked.

He said his government had chalked out a Rs 7100 crore plan to utilise the quota allotted to the state government by the Bachchawat Commission. “We will complete all the 16 projects chalked out by the Krishna Valley Development Corporation in a time bound period,” the deputy chief minister added.

He said that the Karnataka Chief Secretary had written to his Maharashtra counterpart regarding the alleged violation of water quota, on the basis of reports appearing in the press. “From the letter it appears that Karnataka government has not supported the views expressed by Naidu,” Munde said.

Maharashtra government was using 95 tmc of Bhima river water and 70 tmc of Ghataprabha river water as stipulated by Central Water Commission in 1986, Munde said. Munde also informed that raising the height of the Ujni dam in western Maharashtra was within the purview of the state government and there was no need for any sanction from the centre.

About the decisions taken by the cabinet, Munde said it was decided to create a Child Labour Welfare Fund of rupees five lakh for the rehabilitation of children. Preliminary surveys conducted by the Labour Department revealed that 1054 children were employed in the hazardous sector.