Overview

• Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said a meeting will be held within a week to set land compensation rates through a consent award for Phase III of the Upper Krishna Project.
• Phase III would raise the Almatti reservoir from 519.6 m to 524.25 m, allowing storage of 130 tmc ft and enabling 173 tmc ft to irrigate about 6.6 lakh hectares.
• He urged farmers not to pursue compensation cases in court, warning that litigation would slow execution.
• Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar called for single-phase land acquisition without appeals, with rehabilitation to be decided separately.
• The government says it has pressed the Centre repeatedly and that riparian-state meetings were postponed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, as about 20,000 farmers have already filed cases and an earlier Bommai-era package was halted after objections.