NGT reserves order on Yettinahole project in Karnataka

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday reserved its order on Yettinahole Project as final arguments concluded from all the parties.

The principal bench of the NGT headed by Adarsh Kumar Goel has asked all the parties to submit written notice within a week if they wanted to raise any other issue.

The Karnataka Government implementing the Yettinahole Drinking Water Project in Sakleshpura Taluk in Hassan District aims to provide drinking water to drought-hit Tumakuru, Chikkaballapura, and Kolar districts.

Opposing the project environmentalist, K N Somashekar filed a petition in the NGT alleging that the project work was started by the Karnataka Government without getting the required permission from various statutory bodies since it is coming up in ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.

Earlier, the NGT had given permission for the project with some conditions on October 6, 2017. However, before detailed order pronounced by the NGT, it's expert member Ranjan Chatterjee retired from the service. Since the new expert member assumed the office, the NGT again allowed all the parties to place their argument before the bench. The bench is expected to give a detailed order soon.

During the hearing, Sristhi Agnihotri, an advocate representing Somashekhar argued that, if the project came up in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghat, it would lead to a man and animal conflicts.

Countering this, Ashok Devaraj, an advocate representing the Karnataka Government stated that this project is being implemented within the purview of laws to provide drinking water to Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. He also questioned the validity of the application opposing the project.