Yettinahole project unlikely before March 2021

The long-pending Yettinahole project has yet again hit a roadblock due to COVID-19 crisis. The first stage of the project, which was expected to be commissioned by monsoon this year, has now been pushed for next year.

According to Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, the project is likely to see the light of day only by March 2021.

He reviewed the project on Monday. He directed the officials to ensure that the project is not delayed beyond this time frame.

Allocating Rs 1,500 crore for the project in the 2020-21 budget, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had announced that the project would be commissioned this year itself.

“The government accords priority to the Yettinahole project which provides safe drinking water to the districts of Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagar, Chikkaballapur and Kolar, facing severe scarcity of drinking water. A programme has been formulated to complete the lift component works of the first stage of this project and to commission it on a trial basis in the coming monsoon season,” the CM’s budget speech read.

Contrary to the plans, work related to the project is unlikely to be resumed before October 2020, according to officials in the department.

“If the works had continued, the first stage would have been commissioned this year. However, owing to the lockdown, all works came to a grinding halt. By the time normalcy is restored, monsoon would have set in, making it difficult for the work to be taken up. It is unlikely to recommence before October,” a source in the department said.

Jarkiholi, in the meeting, is also said to have noted that there were pending land acquisition hurdles in connection with the project which needed to be resolved at the earliest.

The ambitious project, which got clearance from NGT in March 2019, is expected to cater to drinking water needs (24.01 tmcft of water) of 68.35 lakh people in the beneficiary districts. This apart, 527 micro-irrigation tanks have also been planned to be filled to recharge groundwater levels in these districts.