At a function in Doddaballapur, Moily said that the report on Yettinahole inter-basin water transfer project would soon be ready.
Union minister for corporate affairs M Veerappa Moily’s statement on water-lifting from Yettinahole has not been well-received by conversationalists, environmentalists and farmer groups, who claim that this is the beginning of Nethravati river’s diversion from west to east.
At a function in Doddaballapur on Tuesday, Moily said that the report on Yettinahole inter-basin water transfer project would soon be ready. In less than three years, the project will be able to bring water from the Western Ghats to the parched areas in Bangalore Rural, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. The project details will be presented in the state assembly in the next session, he said.
In view of this, a special meeting comprising the people’s representatives of Hassan and Sakleshpur will be convened on April 10.
In 2011-12, the state allotted `200 for the project. This year, state will allot `400 crore for the same. “This could be the beginning of a larger project of Nethravati river diversion from the west to the east at a certain gradation. The Yettinahole project by itself was a big environmental disaster, as it will definitely fragment the natural landscape and cause destruction of forests and divert natural waterbodies.
The project may also give rise to more human-elephant conflicts,” said Niren Jain, conservationist and convenor of Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation. There are already many hydroelectric projects, pipeline corridors, power lines, highways and a network of roads across the Western Ghats between Hassan and Mangalore. This additional project will definitely damage the biodiversity of the Western Ghats, said Niren.
Moily must re-consider
President of the Nagarika Seva Trust at Guruvainakere, K Somanatha Nayak, said that Moily must consider the ramifications of this project. The project needs more than 30,000 acres and will destroy the biodiversity in four eco-sensitive districts of Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Hassan and Chikmagalur.
Members of Malenadu Janapara Horata Samithi, based in Hassan, conducted a detailed inquiry on the Yettinahole project and found that the Madhav Gadigil committee, constituted by former union minister for environment, ecology and forests Jairam Ramesh, had objected to Gundia hydroelectric project, due to which the project has been stalled.
“The committee has categorised the entire Western Ghats from Kanyakumari to Maharashtra into three zones; Gundia and Yettinahole are featured in Zone 1 as the most eco-sensitive parts of the Western Ghats,” said RTI activist, Kishore Kumar, president of Malenadu Janapara Horata Samithi.
Sundar Rao, a river dynamics expert and a farmer in Buntwal, has observed that if the water from Yettinahole is diverted, many towns and villages in Dakshina Kannada district will soon become arid and will affect farming.
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