People from the parched Chickballapur and Kolar districts do not want the Yettinahole water diversion project implemented, if it is really going to affect the people in the coastal districts, said R. Anjaneya Reddy, president of Chickballapur Permanent Irrigation Action Committee.
Participating in a first of such interactions between people from the coastal region and the parched districts here on Sunday, organised by Jeevanadi Netravathi Rakshana Samiti, Mr. Reddy said that if excess water can be made available to the parched districts, people in the coastal districts should be large-hearted to share such water.
Going by records available, people in the parched region have raised doubts about the availability of the promised quantity of water.
Hence, they have, in the impleading plea before the National Green Tribunal, Chennai, said, “Instead of scrapping Yettinahole project, a comprehensive review should be made by the government to make available drinking water to the region,” according to Mr. Reddy.
Mr. Reddy said, “We are suffering for want of water; however, we do not want the coastal people to suffer too.”
If the Yettinahole project is technically, scientifically, ecologically and administratively unviable, it should be scrapped. On the other hand, if the project really benefits the parched districts without affecting others, those in the coastal districts should not object to it, he pleaded.
Apolitical struggle
The former MLA and Congress leader Vijay Kumar Shetty said that everyone from the district, irrespective of political, religion and other affiliations, has joined the struggle against the project.
‘But people in the coastal districts can share if there is excess water’
