Norms violated while granting permission to Yettinahole project: petitioner

The Karnataka government had violated all norms while granting permission to Yettinahole drinking water project near Sakleshpur in Hassan district, petitioner opposing the project charged before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday. 

The principal bench of the NGT, chaired by Abdul Raheem, started the final hearing of a batch of petitions opposing the controversial project. 

Advocates Ritwick Dutta and Prince Issac, appearing for petitioner K N Somashekar, said that the forest clearance granted by the government for the project was against the spirit of the National Forest Policy. 

The project, which is coming up on five hectares of dense forest in Western Ghats, was approved by regional forest committee instead of Forest Advisory Committee, which is mandatory for a large projects, the advocates said.

The mandatory cost-benefit analysis was not done. Also, the state did not  conduct an impact assessment study taking into account damage environment, the petitioner said. The hearing will continue on Tuesday.