Karnataka Water Resources Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy on Monday, 21 September 2026 directed officials to accelerate pending compensation payouts under the first two phases of the Upper Krishna Project (UKP) and simultaneously begin land acquisition for UKP Stage-3 on a proportionate basis as prescribed under government rules. The directives were issued at a high-level meeting held at Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru, focused on the acquisition of land across 184 villages expected to be submerged by the backwaters of the Almatti reservoir.

Key Directions from the Meeting

Cheluvarayaswamy instructed officials to strictly follow government guidelines and avoid arbitrary decisions during the acquisition process. Ministers and legislators from constituencies falling under the project area have been permitted to submit written suggestions on the various stages of acquisition. The minister clarified that compensation rates per acre were fixed under an order issued last year, and officials unclear about building compensation should formally write to the department for guidance. He added that the matter would be escalated to the Chief Minister for appropriate directives.

Gram panchayats have been entrusted with identifying land for rehabilitation purposes. Cheluvarayaswamy also warned of legal action over reported allegations involving sale agreements at rehabilitation centres for amounts running into crores of rupees. A separate meeting on rehabilitation centre shelters is to be convened shortly to safeguard the interests of project-affected families.

Phased Acquisition Plan: 184 Villages in Focus

Officials held detailed discussions on prioritising 79 villages where land acquisition is already at various stages. The government will take up acquisition of another 87 villages — for which notifications are yet to be issued — based on flood-affected status, while villages in the final stage will be considered later. The government has set a target of distributing compensation for approximately 15,000 acres out of a total 75,563 acres this year.

Minister M.B. Patil urged that for the 5,600 acres in Babaleshwar, compensation for at least 1,000 acres should be provided immediately. He noted that although funds had been released for 18 villages, those in Vijayapura district were excluded. In response, Cheluvarayaswamy assured that the proposed ₹3,000 crore would be distributed equally among the six Assembly constituencies covered by the project, with ₹500 crore allocated to each.

What UKP Stage-3 Entails

UKP Stage-3 envisages raising the height of Almatti dam gates from 519.60 metres to 524.256 metres, which would enable storage of an additional 100 TMC of water and the implementation of nine sub-projects. The project requires acquisition of 1,33,867 acres of land in total. Notably, compensation rates — earlier fixed at ₹2 lakh per acre — were sharply revised last year to ₹40 lakh per acre for irrigated land and ₹30 lakh per acre for dry land, a significant increase aimed at addressing long-standing grievances of affected farmers.

Land acquisition has already been completed in 18 villages, while acquisition remains pending for 71,284 acres across 166 villages. Some pending court cases are being resolved through Lok Adalats.

Other Officials and Additional Issues

The meeting was attended by ministers Vijanand Kashappanavar and Laxman Savadi, former minister R.B. Thimmapur, Water Resources Department Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta, and senior officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL).

In a separate meeting later on the same day, Cheluvarayaswamy addressed land acquisition concerns in Govindapalli and Karadigudda villages in Devadurga taluk, which are affected by the backwaters of Ramadurga tank. He assured farmers that compensation steps would be initiated, directing officials to study the affected area and submit a report covering 243.43 acres of land.

With compensation rates overhauled and a structured timeline now in place, the pace of UKP-3 implementation over the coming months will be closely watched by tens of thousands of project-affected families across six constituencies.