Construct a memorial to mark historic occasion of KRS reaching the brim in June, says CM
Addressing a gathering at Brindavan Gardens after offering bagina to the KRS, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the KRS, which was constructed in 1932, had never reached its full reservoir level of 124.8 ft in the month of June.
'History has been created this year. The reservoir has reached its brim in June itself,' he said, adding that the data of reservoir levels was available since 1940.
The construction of the reservoir, has a storage capacity of 49 tmcft of water, began in 1911 and completed in 1932. Since then, it has reached its maximum level for 76 years, he said.
He instructed MLA for Srirangapatna Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda and officials of the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL) to take up work on the foundation stone for the construction of the memorial.
The historic occasion should be marked because the KRS irrigates 1.85 lakh acres of land and serves drinking water to the people of Mysuru, Mandya, Bengaluru, and other places, he said.
Recalling that the KRS did not reach the full reservoir level in 2023 when the Congress government came to power, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Opposition 'superstitiously' began claiming that he, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, and the Congress government had brought misfortune to the State.
Pointing out that it was nature that controlled rainfall, Mr. Siddaramaiah described the Opposition leaders as 'foolish and superstitious'.
Mr. Siddaramaiah issued directions to the Irrigation Consultative Committees of all the reservoirs in the State - KRS, Tungabhadra, Hemavathi, Kabini, Harangi, Upper Krishna Project, Narayanapura, etc. - to take a decision to release water to the canals.
All the reservoirs in the State are full and hence, water should be released to irrigate the agricultural fields.
The Chief Minister said the State government has allocated ₹3,000 crore to the CNNL for developmental works this year.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who holds the Water Resources portfolio, said more than ₹2,000 crore will be spent on irrigation in the Cauvery basin area, out of which ₹1,000 crore for Mandya district alone.
A large number of canals and sub canals will be taken up for repairs and modernisation, he said.
Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy said the custom of offering bagina at the KRS began during the tenure of former Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs in 1979. After Urs, it was Mr. Siddaramaiah.
Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda said the Chief Minister was in favour of holding the bagina at the earliest as the reservoir had reached its brim for the first time in its history. 'The programme was hastily organised in two to three days,' he said.
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