Kalam dedicates UKP river project to the nation

Alamatti, Karnataka, Aug 21 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today dedicated the Rs 9500-crore World Bank assisted Upper Krishna Project (UKP) to the nation at Alamatti dam site in Bijapur district.

The dam was named as 'Lal Bahadur Shastri Sagar' after the late Prime Minister's name who had laid the foundation stone for the much-delayed project on May 22, 1964.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kalam said ''This multi-purpose project will benefit the drought affected areas of North Karnataka.

The project is expected to provide irrigation to over six lakh hectares and generate power to the extent of 290 MWs. Though, the two dams at Narayanpur and Almatti have been completed, many canals are yet to be completed. Early completion of these works is essential for enabling full utilisation of the water by the farmers.

''I find that the project has taken nearly 43 years after its conceptualization. I would like to bring an interesting fact about the notional loss arising out of this delay from the angle of irrigation and non-availability of power for this period to the citizens will be around Rs 25,000 crore and Rs 8000 crore respectively. This brings out the need for timely completion of infrastructural projects through a mission mode operation,'' he added.

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