From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Updated

Bengaluru, Feb 7: Karnataka’s ambitious Yettinahole drinking water project, which has been facing stiff opposition in the coastal region, is all set to go ahead as planned.

With the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal making it clear that it would not come in the way of a drinking water project, the State Government is confident of getting all legal hurdles cleared soon, claimed Water Resources Minister M B Patil in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The Principal Bench of NGT headed by Justice Swatantar Kumar had questioned the petitioners for K N Somashekhar and Kishore Kumar for opposing a purely drinking water project, which has resulted in the petitioner’s withdrawing their plea, possibly to avoid its dismissal.

Counsel for Karnataka. Naveen Nath and Ashok Devaraj submitted that as per the revised proposal of the project, water would be lifted from Yettinahole to fill the lakes in parched districts of Kolar and Chikkaballapur.

The minister said the State Government was committed to implementing the project aimed at finding a permanent solution to the drinking water need of the Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru and other parched districts in the State.

Reacting to the withdrawal of a petition, questioning the grant of the project clearance by the Union department of Environment to the Yettinahole project, before the National Green Tribunal, the minister said that “the petitioners seem to have withdrawn their petition fearing dismissal of their plea by the Tribunal”. 

Noting that the Yettinahole project is purely a drinking water project envisaged to find a lasting solution to the perennial drinking water problem of over 68 lakh population of the Kolar, Chikkaballapur and other districts, Patil said that the State Government had already spent over Rs 1800 crore for the Rs 19,582 crore  on the project.

It may be recalled that the petitioners had questioned the issue of Environmental clearance by the Centre and withdrew the petition stating that they were not opposing the drinking water project.

The Tribunal, while allowing the petitioner to withdraw the petition, adjourned the proceedings to hear three other petitions submitted before it, questioning among other things the grant of Forest clearance and other matters, relating to the project.

The tribunal has posted the cases for further hearing to March 21.

The National Green Tribunal asked the petitioners to withdraw the petition relating to non-obtention of clearance of environment department before undertaking Yettinahole drinking water project. 

The tribunal headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, which took up hearing in the case, pointed out that the department of environment had clarified that study report on the impact of the project need not be undertaken in respect of drinking water projects. "On the basis of this point, Chennai bench of the tribunal had quashed your petition in the past. You should have approached the Supreme Court by way of appeal against this order. It is observed that instead, you have approached the main bench of the tribunal with the same issue," it rebuked the petitioners.

The NGT refused to entertain the arguments of the advocates for thepetitioners, Ritwik Dutta and Prince Isaac, that the current applications are different from the ones moved before the Chennai bench. 

Earlier in the day, advocates for the state government told the tribunal that the decision of the department of environment of the central government to keep drinking water projects outside the purview of environmental impact study reports has statutory validity. They accused the petitioners of purposefully hiding the fact that permission was granted for Yettinahole project works on the basis of these guiding principles. They claimed that all permissions were obtained in phases and works had been undertaken in a systematic way.

Petitioner K N Somashekhar said that fight against Yettinahole project will continue even if the petition is withdrawn as per the instructions of the tribunal. He took umbrage to water resources minister, M B Patil's statement that the petition was withdrawn for fear of it getting dismissed. He clarified that another petition in which he has questioned the permission given by the department of environment will come up for hearing soon.

"I respect the order issued by the tribunal with a view of bringing all points relating to the case under a single petition," he clarified. He also said that the project aims at cheating the people of Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. He felt that this project is meant to benefit only the officials and companies manufacturing pipes, adding that he is confident of succeeding in his fight against the execution of this project.