Bengaluru (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in poll bound Karnataka's northern districts of Yadgiri and Kalaburagi on Thursday to lay foundation stone and inaugurate projects worth more than Rs 10,800 crores.

This will be the second such visit by the Prime Minister to Karnataka this month. He was in Hubballi on January 12 to inaugurate the National Youth Festival, during which he had held a massive road show.

According to an official release, at around 12 noon, in Kodekal, Yadgiri district, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate various developmental projects related to irrigation, drinking water besides a National Highway development project.

Later, at around 2:15 PM, Modi will reach Malkhed, Kalaburagi District, where he will distribute title deeds (hakku patra) to the eligible beneficiaries of newly declared revenue villages and also lay the foundation stone for a National Highway project.

The visit also gains significance, as the ruling BJP prepares for assembly polls in Karnataka and has set a target of winning a minimum of 150 out of total 224 seats which will go for polls by May.

Aimed at providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections to all households, Modi will lay the foundation stone for Yadgir multi-village drinking water supply scheme under Jal Jeevan Mission at Kodekal in Yadgiri District, also a Water Treatment Plant of 117 MLD will be built under the scheme.

The project, which costs more than Rs 2,050 crore, will provide potable water to about 2.3 lakh households of more than 700 rural habitations and three towns of Yadgiri district.

During the programme, the PM will also inaugurate Narayanpur Left Bank Canal Extension Renovation and Modernisation Project (NLBC ERM).

The project, with a canal carrying capacity of 10,000 cusecs, can irrigate 4.5 lakh hectares of command area. It will benefit more than three lakh farmers in 560 villages of Kalaburgi, Yadagir and Vijaypur districts. The total cost of the project is about Rs 4,700 crores.

Later, he will also lay the foundation stone of the 65.5 km section of NH-150C. This 6-lane Greenfield road project is part of Surat Chennai Expressway. It is being built at a cost of about Rs 2,000 crore.

Further pointing out that about 1,475 unrecorded habitations have been declared as New Revenue villages in five districts of Kalaburagi, Yadgiri, Raichur, Bidar and Vijayapura, the release said, at Malkhed village of Sedam Taluka of Kalaburagi district, the Prime Minister will distribute title deeds (hakku patra) to the eligible beneficiaries of these newly declared revenue villages.

The issuance of title deeds to more than 50,000 beneficiaries, who are largely from the marginalised and vulnerable communities from the SC, ST and OBC, is a step to provide a formal recognition from the government for their land, and will make them eligible for receiving government services like drinking water, electricity, roads etc.

During the programme, the Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of the 71 km section of NH-150C. This 6 lane Greenfield road project is also part of Surat Chennai Expressway. It is being built at a cost of more than Rs 2,100 crore.

Surat Chennai Expressway will pass through six states- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. It will reduce the existing route from 1,600 Kms to 1,270 Kms.

The PM after finishing with his engagements in Karnataka will leave for Mumbai.

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New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Police has tightened security at borders ahead of the Punjab farmers' Friday march to the national capital.

"Delhi Police is on alert and security has been tightened at the border points of the city. A skeletal deployment has been made at the Singhu Border but it may increase as per the situation at the Shambu border on the Punjab-Haryana border," a senior police officer told PTI.

Traffic is likely to be hit due to the security arrangements at the border and the central part of Delhi, he said.

The officer said the police are also keeping an eye on developments on the Noida border, where another group of farmers from Uttar Pradesh observes a sit-in.

Farmers, mainly seeking a legal guarantee to minimum support price for crops, had earlier attempted to march into the national capital on February 13 and February 21, but they were stopped by security forces at Shambhu and Khanauri on Punjab-Haryana borders.

Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since then.

On Wednesday, the district administration of Ambala in Haryana asked Punjab farmers to reconsider their proposed march to Delhi and told them to contemplate further action only after getting permission from Delhi Police.

Delhi Police, however, said it has not received any request from Punjab farmers to march to Delhi.

The Ambala administration has imposed Section 163 of the BNSS restricting the assembly of five or more persons in the district and has issued notices at the protest site near the Shambhu border.

On Monday, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said a delegation of farmers met Ambala's superintendent of police and informed him about their foot march to Delhi on December 6.

Pandher said the delegation had assured the police that the march would be peaceful and traffic along the route would not be blocked.

Besides the MSP, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and no hike in electricity tariff.

They are also demanding "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.