Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)
Mangaluru, Sep 19: Empty chairs on the dais at the public debate on the Yettinahole project, organized at School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya here, manifested the apathy, or rather, the shirking of responsibility on the part of elected representatives who were supposed to take part in the programme to answer ten questions on the project.
Out of the 13 politicians who were invited, only five - health minister U T Khader, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLA Mohiuddin Bava and S Angara and MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik - turned up. The debate was organized by Sahyadri Samrakshana Sanchaya.
Former CM Veerappa Moily, union law minister D V Sadananda Gowda, district incharge minister Ramanath Rai, sports minister Abhaychandra Jain, MLC Ivan D'Souza, and MLAs J R Lobo, Shakuntala Shetty and Vasanth Bangera did not attend the meet despite being invited. Among them, J R Lobo sent a letter stating his inability to attend due to prior committments in Bengaluru.
During the debate, 10 questions on the project were asked to the participating leaders, by a jury consisting of five members, namely, Sunder Rao, lawyer Isaac Prince from Bengaluru, Yathiraj from Tumakuru and Somashekar from Bengaluru and Dinesh Pai. The questions were prepared and sent to all the elected representatives in advance by Sahyadri Samrakshana Sanchaya. Only U T Khader came prepared with a set of answers from the departments concerned.
In response to the questions, Nalin Kateel said, "All three of us - Capt Ganesh Karnik, Angara and I (all from BJP) - have the same answer. We support your protest and I have come here to support the cause. I want to say that you should fight legally also. I have asked the officials concerned to stop the work during the ZP meeting earlier this evening, and I have also written to union environment minister Prakash Javdekar and union water resources minister Uma Bharti not to give clearance to the project."
Capt Ganesh Karnik said, "Yettinahole project cannot provide 24 TMC of water. The officials who have prepared the DPR on this project have made factual errors. This is not a feasible project. When it has not even got environment clearance, why is the government spending so much money on it?
"The project requires 370 mw of power and there is no mention of how this demand would be met.
If this project is implemented, it will adversely impact the Western Ghats. It will also create problems for marine life as this river water, if it doesnt flow into sea, will increase salinity. It will also have an impact on agricultural activiites, fishing and plantations," Karnik said.
"Water from Netravati will be diverted into Palar river which is parly in Andhra Pradesh. This will create inter-state problems. We are not against giving water, but the project is not feasible and there is no guarantee if the water woud even reach Kolar and other districts. Kolar also gets rainfall, so the government can take up projects to recharge the groundwater level. I request the government to stop this project," he urged.
Asked whether the Yettinahole project had been passed in both houses of the state legislature, Karnik said, "It was sanctioned in both the houses, but not discussed in detail."
The jury members thanked Nalin Kateel and Karnik for supporting the cause, but also asked Nalin Kateel as to why he has not raised this issue in the parliament, to which the MP replied, "I cannot interfere in a project that has been passed in the state assembly."
U T Khader, when it was his turn to answer the questions, said, "These are technical issues. Being representative of the government, I have to act according to the Constitution. You have asked me 10 questions in wirting and I have brought answers from the department concerned. As I am not a technical expert I cannot personally answer them."
Reading out the answers, Khader said, "The National Institute of Hydrology and the Central Water Commission have given approval for the project. Water will not be taken from the Netravati or the Kumaradhara rivers. A large tank will be built at a high altitude and rainwater flowing into eight ponds will be collected in it, and only the excess water that fills the tank will be provided through this project.
"This water will be taken only during monsoons. It requires 13.93 hectares of land to statrt the work. There are two rivers partially flowing through Kolar - Palar and Pernal, but as rainfall is low, there is no availability of adequate water," he said.
He also allayed fears of the elephant corridor getting affected, and said that pipes will be installed underground in such places.
Khader also said that there would be no question of inter-state conflict as water from Netravati river would not be diverted into Palar river.
"Collectively we can come to a conclusion on this project. Nothing is going to happen by blaming only the people's representatives. I understand your concerns - your concern is that if the project fails after spending so much money on it, it would be a waste. People of Kolar have not asked for water from Netravati, they just want water from anywhere," he said.
Khader also said that he would ask the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd (KNNL) which is handling the project, to upload all the details of the project on its website. "As the state assembly has already given approval, it is difficult to drop the project. If the project has to be stopped, then consent is needed by the assembly again, that too with majority. In the beginning Vijay Kumar Shetty had opposed the project and I had told him to take the legal route, but for some reason it was not done," he said.
"This is a good platform to express views on the project. We will discuss with the officials again and also talk to the CM and the minster for water resources," he assured.
However, the jury members were not satisfied with Khader's answers. They pointed out that they were not his answers but from the department concerned, and hence could not be taken as his personal opinion.
The elected represesentatives came to the programme nearly one-and-a-half hours late, as they were attending another meeting in ZP office on the same issue, convened by the district administration. While people waited for the leaders to arrive, Dinesh Holla, convenor of Sahyadri Samrakshana Sanchaya said, "We have waited for so long that we should assume that the elected representatives cannot answer the questions. The district administration called the meeting at the zilla panchayat many days after we announced the 10 questions, just to sabotage this programme. The fact that the anti-Yettinahole project statue near Town Hall was removed overnight raises suspicions that the district administration is against us."
Holla further said, "The Varahi project taken up by Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd been going on for 36 years. After the inauguration recently, water flowed for only two days and then not a single drop was to be seen. It was proposed to be completed at Rs 27 crore, but the government has already spent Rs 600 crore on it. Some of the other projects by KNNL has not been completed, so the agency itself is not right for this project. The CM said he would convene a meeting with the people on this project, but so far it has not been done."
Yathiraj, who along with K N Somashekar filed a writ petition in the National Green Tribunal which ordered a stay on the project till September 28, said, "K N Somashekar took this fight to the Green Tribunal court. Before that he had filed a case in the high court. Somashekar has spent lot of money from his pocket and collected information on the project for about two years. However, due to technical reasons we did not get stay on the project earlier sd we were busy in collecting documents and we were late in filing the petition. We again filed the writ petition in the Green Tribunal in my name and got a stay order issued.
"Kishore of Malenadu Horata Samiti and Vijay Shetty supported us a lot, but the people's representatives are not coming forward for discussion. Today vilolence and crimes are increasing in nation because people who represent us are not ruling Constitutionally. They are creating misunderstanding between people of different regions for vote bank."