Karnataka Chief Minister presents 13 pending proposals, appeals to MPs to strive for State’s progress beyond party lines

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Monday sought the cooperation of MPs from Karnataka in working for the State’s progress and particularly to get Central clearance for 13 proposals. They include the Satellite Town Ring Road for Bengaluru, re-opening of HAL airport for commercial operations and Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project.

Mr. Shivakumar held a dinner meeting with MPs from the State in Delhi for the first time after becoming Chief Minister, which was attended by Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi, V. Somanna, and Shobha Karandlaje, among others.

The meeting saw the Chief Minister appealing to MPs to convince the Centre to provide approval for pending irrigation and drinking water projects and extend drought relief to the State.

“In Karnataka, apart from the Almatti and Harangi reservoirs, most other dams are nearly empty. If this situation continues, there could be problems with drinking water for people and cattle. I have written to the Prime Minister about the State’s situation. I need your cooperation to get assistance,” the Chief Minister told MPs.

With respect to the issues related to sharing Cauvery water with Tamil Nadu, he informed the MPs that his Tamil Nadu counterpart C. Joseph Vijay wants to meet him. He said that Karnataka will hold consultations with lawyers on how to remove hurdles with respect to getting clearance for the Mahadayi project.

The Chief Minister announced that a new team, including a separate Resident Commissioner, will be formed at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi to follow up on the process of getting Central clearance for pending projects of Karnataka. This team would work in coordination with MPs and also provide supporting information to them, he said.

The other pending proposals for which the Chief Minister sought the cooperation of MPs included getting the allocation of ₹2186.20 crore made by the 15th Finance Commission to Panchayats for 2025-26, getting clearance for 176 projects worth ₹16,561 crore submitted by the Karnataka Maritime Board about six months ago under the Sagar Mala scheme, funds to the tune of ₹300 crore under Compensatory Afforestation Fund sought from MoEF for relocation of families from Kudremukh National Park, transfer of Defence land to the extent of 40 acres in Bengaluru and 668 acres in Belagavi.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, who also holds Revenue portfolio, appealed to all Karnataka MPs to work together to ensure the release of more than ₹40,000 crore in grants that are pending from the Union government.