Daijiworld Media Network – Madikeri (SP)

Madikeri, Nov 4: Karnataka chief minister, Siddaramaiah, noted that River Kaveri, lifeline of Karnataka, is getting increasingly polluted. He said that his government will soon draft a purification plan for this river a la River Ganga.

He was speaking after initiating a number of development works in the district at a function organized on Monday November 3 at Gandhi Maidan here.

'Over the last some years, water of River Kaveri, which takes birth from Kodagu, has been rendered more and more dirty. Like the central government's ambitious plan of purifying River Ganga, we too have felt a need to purify water of this river. A blueprint of this project will be finalized soon after consulting experts in the field,' he promised.

He disclosed that as part of the government's commitment to develop Kodagu, an over bridge will be built across River Kaveri at its origin, Bhagamandala.

He said his party, during the last 18 months it has been in power, had made honest efforts to meet its election promises, and that about 95 out of 165 promises had been met. 'Our aim is to ensure that every poor man gets BPL card. Out of the annual plan expenditure of Rs 65,000 crore, 22 percent goes to scheduled castes and tribes. Our government is the only one to have set aside as high as Rs 15,830 crore for these categories of people,' he claimed.

Siddaramaiah said that the road between Bangalore and Bantwal via Mysore and Madikeri has already been announced as national highway, adding that people can expect this road to see further improvements soon.