Netravati river issue puts the BJP government on thin ice

The Netravati river diversion issue has again cropped up to haunt the Yeddyurappa government. The recent budget allocation of Rs200 crore has re-activated the anti-diversion groups. This time, besides political parties, environment groups, scientific community, and citizens’ forums of Mangalore have joined hands to showcase their dissatisfaction.

“The Netravati river diversion project that has been there since 2001 is the biggest-ever ‘inter-basin water transfer’ project in the history of Independent India and it was estimated that it would cost the state over ` 16,000 crore 10 years down the line. The cost might have spiralled up by at least four times, and it would be a foolhardy decision to take up that project,” said Professor SG Mayya, senior faculty, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK).

The government has perhaps not looked into the enormous harm that will be inflicted on the Western Ghats if the project is taken up, not to mention the denudation of thousands of acres of Shola forest, displacement of animals, and soil erosion, resulting in total degeneration of the Western Ghats.

Vijayakumar Shetty. former MLA who led a delegation of fishermen, hydrology experts, and scientists to the Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala, D Veerendra Heggade, to persuade him to assume leadership, said that Heggade will agree to it only if the ant-Netravati movement is taken up on an apolitical platform. He has already contacted the MLAs and people’s representatives of the district in an effort to garner support to the anti-Netravati diversion movement. “They have shown unanimous support to the cause,” Shetty said.

The Netravati river diversion project report made by chairman of the project committee GS Paramasivaiya in 2001 entitled ‘Scheme for diversion of Netravti river water to East’ covers seven districts, namely Chikmagalur, Hassan, Mandya, Tumkur, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore urban, and Kolar. The Paramasivaya committee report that has been in the cold storage for the last 10 years is now being studied by the government.

Sundar Rao of Buntwal, who has studied the project in detail, has his own views. “The committee has formed the idea of the project only on the basis of data gathered by the National Remote Sensing Establishment of Hyderabad but it has not taken into account the ground realities.  The committee plans to divert 142. 46 TMC in the monsoon. The annual volume of water in Netravati was to the extent of 464.62 TMC. The water will be diverted through  canals running through the Western Ghats to feed 57 taluks in seven districts of Bayalu Seeme,” he said.

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said he will  speak to the chief minister and urge him to scrap the project.  He said the Netravati river has been already heavily exploited. “The government has given permits to 27 different hydroelectric projects. With the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region (PCPIR) coming into Mangalore, the industrial demand for fresh water was only going up, and we need all the water that the Netravati river can offer,” he said.

The president of Karnataka State Traditional and Naadadoni Fishermen Okkuta Sharat Guddekoplu pointed out that the monsoon waters bring many types of nutrients that act as food for fish progeny when it is time for the fish to breed. Naturally, we have to oppose the project,” he said.

Scientists at the Kochi-based Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute told DNA, “The project proposal states that Netravati has 145 TMC of excess water that could be diverted towards the east, but it is that bit of water that helps the Arabian Sea maintain its delicate balance.”