JOIN USHeritage tag for Western Ghats may derail irrigation project
The declaration of the Western Ghats as a world heritage site by Unesco has evoked a mixed response from local people, elected representatives and organisations in the district.
However, people in the dryland region, under which the district comes, are a little worried that the heritage tag may derail the project to provide permanent irrigation facilities to the region, for which they have been fighting for more than a decade now.
The people in the districts of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumkur, Bangalore Rural and others had been living in the hope that the excess water from the Netravathi river would be diverted for irrigation purposes in their region.
However, the State government has been showing more interest in pursuing the Ettinahole lift irrigation project in Sakleshpur.
A leader of the permanent irrigation facility agitation committee said that the likely restriction on projects in the region, following the heritage tag, may put a spoke in the wheel of the permanent irrigation project. The people in the region have held bandhs several times demanding implementation of the project. They had even gone on a padayatra to the Vidhana Soudha, pressing for the same.
He argues that the Ettinahole project may provide drinking water for towns and cities, but the rural areas and agricultural activities will not benefit. The leader said they would intensify their agitation in the days to come.
Irrigation expert G S Paramashivaiah, whose report is the basis for the permanent irrigation project plan, said it was important that the flora and fauna in the Western Ghats region should not be harmed. But, at the same time, there should be some easing of restrictions as far as the permanent irrigation project is concerned. The lives of humans are more important than those of animals, Paramashivaiah said.
A day should not come when the dryland region becomes barren, what with the depleting levels of groundwater, he said.