'Union minister to be requested to halt Yettinahole'

Anand Swaroop Guruji, Ganga Seva Mission, has said that a memorandum will be submitted to Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave to cancel the permission granted to the Yettinahole project.

“Neither the effect of the project on the environment nor the destruction of forests due to the implementation of the Yettinahole project has been estimated. The work has also been started without calling a meeting of the citizens who will be affected,” he said, addressing a meeting on the project.

“There are protests in different parts of the country whenever people tamper with Nature, and I have been a part of many of them. I have decided to fight against the Yettinahole project after noticing the severe opposition to it by the people,” said the seer.

Continuing on the matter, he said that the country is witnessing ‘developmental terrorism’. “There is an urgent need for political reformation. The political leaders are in a need for lessons on taking up developmental work without forgetting Nature. If we sideline Nature while taking up development projects, the entire world will be in trouble. Culture too will be in trouble,” said the Guruji.

About 95% of the residents of Kolar and Chikkaballapur themselves have been opposing the Yettinahole diversion, the seer cited, adding, “The Kolaramma tank used to get filled with water that flowed down from the Shatashrunga Hills in Kolar district. Following blockades of different kinds by the government at several points on the route, the Kolaramma tank is going dry. The residents of the district now depend on the assurance of being provided water from the Western Ghats.”

The Yettinahole project is an irrigation project, said the seer. But, there is generation of electricity at various points, which will result in great trouble. The biggest problem is that there is a wrong calculation about the water that will be made available through the Yettinahole project. The Union Cabinet will be made aware of this fact, he added.

“The environmentalists and Parliamentarians of Dakshina Kannada have already submitted a requested to withdraw the Yettinahole project, but the requested has been sidelined. Since Dave was a part of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, we can hope him to understand the situation and reconsider the permission of the Environment Department,” explained the seer.

MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, who addressed the gathering, called upon the people to take up the responsibility of undertaking a legal struggle, spread awareness among other citizens and demand the government to immediately halt the Yettinahole project. Dr Niranjan Rai, Vijay Kumar Shetty, Dinakar Shetty, Dinesh Holla, Anwar Manippadi and Purushottam Chitrapura were present at the meeting.

‘Problem for Cauvery’
Trouble for the ecology of the Western Ghats will automatically mean trouble for the water of the River Cauvery, warned Dr S G Mayya, retired professor of NITK, Suratkal.

Dr Mayya, who spoke on the Yettinahole project, said that it is wrong notion that the project will affect only River Nethravathi or Yettinahole. “All east-flowing rivers will be affected, one of which is River Cauvery,” he explained and added, “Had they been completely aware of the problems because of the project, the people of Tamil Nadu too would have wholeheartedly opposed it.”