HC adjourns hearing of petition on KC Valley project

The Karnataka High Court adjourned the hearing of a public interest litigation challenging the KC Valley project on the ground that it is affecting the health of local people as untreated water is polluting the groundwater.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari adjourned the case after the Advocate General sought time to submit a detailed report with regard to the water quality of areas in question.

The Advocate General also orally submitted to the court that there was some problem with equipment and following this, pumping of water was stopped from July 13 as some untreated water entered the lakes following heavy rain.

The court also stated that the interim order directing the government not to restart pumping of treated water to Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts from the KC Valley project shall continue until the next date of hearing.

The KC Valley project is aimed at filling the lakes of drought-hit Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts with treated water from the KC Valley. However, the pumping of water was stopped from July 13, after froth was found in the water of Kolar’s Lakshmisagara lake. It was later discovered that chemical pollutants present in waters released from Bengaluru had reached the lake.

The petitioner Anjaneya Reddy had moved the court seeking directions to the state government to review the entire project and also sought for directions to stay the project till environment/social and health impact assessments were made following health hazards to the residents of the districts.

The bench adjourned the hearing of the case to August 16.