Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 22 (ANI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday asked Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan to fix a time with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to discuss the Tungabhadra water utilisation issue.

Speaking to reporters after handing over six elephants to the Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister at Vidhana Soudha, he said, 'I appeal to the DCM to fix a time with the Andhra Pradesh CM to discuss the use of Tungabhadra water. We need to discuss the use of 24 TMC of water.'

'Karnataka is blessed with natural resources and wildlife. We can send more elephants to Andhra Pradesh. It is difficult to train wild elephants, hence we are sending trained elephants to Andhra Pradesh,' he said.

'In order to conserve wild life and prevent man-animal conflict, we have fenced the forest areas with railway tracks. We have also ensured that only government run resorts have permission for safari. I had gone to Kabini with family for my birthday. When Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had come down for Mysuru Dasara, I had made arrangements for them to stay in a resort in Kodagu,' he added.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hit out at the BJP for not doing anything to fix Bengaluru's flooding issues and said that the state government was working towards a permanent solution for the city's rain woes.

'The Opposition is busy criticising, let them do. We are working towards achieving a permanent solution for rain woes in Bengaluru. Ultimately, criticisms die and only good work lives on,' he said while addressing a press conference after inspecting flood relief works in the city, along with CM Siddaramaiah, in several areas of Bengaluru.

'The BJP is criticising today. What did they do when they were in power? I have instructed officials to remove encroachments, but some have got stays from the Court. The BJP did nothing about these encroachments. We had identified 211 areas prone to floods, of which we have fixed 166 issues. Works are pending in 44 others places and we are taking them as well. The number of flood-affected areas has come down in Bengaluru. We are trying to give Bengaluru a new shape and we will do it,' he explained.

'Most of the areas which witnessed floods are the ones represented by BJP MLAs. It shows what the BJP MLAs have done. Congress MLAs have addressed most of the flooding issues in their constituencies,' he added.

'We inspected Arvind Limbavali's constituency as well. He has brought up the issue of road widening. I have asked him to submit a detailed report of all spots where land acquisition obstructs road widening work. He also discussed a 150 feet road and we will look into his demand. The BMRDA has issued a notification for two roads, 150-feet road and a 150-meter road. I have brought this to the attention of the CM and the matter will be discussed in the Cabinet meeting soon. We will discuss with the CM and officials of local planning authorities to come out with a rule to prohibit basements in low lying and flood-prone areas,' he added. Replying to a question on removal of encroachments, he said, '70% of the work is done and we are working on the rest,' he further said. (ANI)