A district that gave Karnataka its first Chief Minister and its most celebrated literary voice now stands at the centre of a major infrastructure push. Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar inaugurated, laid foundation stones for, and distributed benefits under development works worth Rs 3,200 crore across Malur taluk in Kolar district on Monday, 10 August 2026 — pledging that the water-starved eastern plains would not be forgotten.

Kolar's farmers: resilience the state must honour

Kolar is the land of gold — chinnada naadu — and the birthplace of both D. V. Gundappa, the towering Kannada philosopher-poet, and K. C. Reddy, the first Chief Minister of the erstwhile Mysore State. Addressing the gathering, Shivakumar paid tribute to the district's farmers, who have refused to buckle even as groundwater levels plummeted to 2,000 feet below the surface. 'Even when the groundwater dropped to 2,000 feet, the farmers here did not surrender to despair. They supplied milk, vegetables, silk, and flowers to Bengaluru and preserved their self-respect,' he said. He recalled that during the Covid pandemic, when farmers had no market for their produce, the government purchased vegetables from Kolar and distributed them free to Bengaluru residents.

The Yettinahole promise and the 'water guarantee'

The centrepiece of the political address was water. Shivakumar described the government's seventh guarantee as a 'water guarantee' — neerina guarantee — and pushed back against JD(S) state president's mockery of the Yettinahole project as impossible. 'Nothing comes easy. This project is difficult. But should we not try?' he said. The scheme proposes diverting water from the Western Ghats through Hassan to fill tanks in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, with an extension effort reaching as far as Tumakuru. The government has set a completion target of 2027.

The progress cited was concrete: the K. C. Valley project has already filled 104 tanks; the H. N. Valley scheme is filling 65 more; and the government is moving to fill over 700 tanks with treated water. New schemes are to be announced on 15 August.

Nanjegowda's Rs 3,200-crore ledger and a medical college for Kolar

Shivakumar praised the local MLA, referred to as Nanjegowda, as a model legislator, crediting him with channelling the Rs 3,200-crore grant into the constituency. 'He gave you his word and he kept it — this programme is the proof,' the Deputy CM said. On the infrastructure side, the budget has already announced a government medical college for Kolar, and preparations are underway to allocate 60 acres to the Kolar APMC for its expansion.

Shivakumar also addressed the absence of a cabinet berth for the district directly: 'We could not give a ministerial post to this district. But every MLA here is equal to a Chief Minister and a minister for me. It is my duty to empower them.' The closing note was unambiguous — power is transient, achievement is immortal, and voters are god: 'Adhikaara nashwara, saadhanae ajaramaara, matadaaraare Ishwara.'

For a district that has long supplied Bengaluru's kitchens while watching its own wells run dry, the Rs 3,200-crore injection and a firm 2027 deadline for Yettinahole are not just political promises — they are a reckoning the government has now put in writing.