JOIN USLeader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, H D Kumaraswamy, on Wednesday criticised the Siddaramaiah government and the previous BJP regime, for their “failure” in implementing the Yettinhole lift irrigation project.
Kumaraswamy said that while the government was making people believe that five packages were already tendered for the purpose of lift irrigation, queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act had revealed that the detailed project report (DPR) for the project was still being prepared.
He alleged that the government did not reveal the complete facts on the project and was trying to “mislead” the citizens of the arid region in the State.
“So much so, the Forest department is not even aware of how much of forest land will have to be parted with for the Yettinahole project,” he said.
Kumaraswamy said that according to the information available, the State is planning to earmark 1,500 hectares of forest land and 230 MW of power to lift the water and channelise it towards Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumkur districts and the Devanahalli region.
No environment nod
Considering the fact that there is still no environment clearance and power requirement, Kumaraswamy wondered if the project was indeed feasible.
He said he had asked Union Minister and Chikkaballapur MP Veerappa Moily, who holds additional charge of Environment and Forests after Jayanthi Natarajan quit last week, to do something good for the people of the region by approving the required forest land for the project before elections.