Just a little more than two months ago on March 3, Dakshina Kannada closed its shutters, stayed off the streets, and in a rare instance of political unanimity, the inauguration of Yettinahole diversion project was condemned across the political spectrum.
However, in the months that followed — especially during the heat of the election campaign — environmentalists believed the project had slipped from the minds of the people to become a non-issue. “This is distressing for the district. The people and politicians have abandoned the issue,” said Dinesh Holla, environmentalist, who for the past year, has been leading the protests through his group Sahyadri Samrakshana Sanchaya.
His group had distributed nearly 50,000 pamphlets asking residents to use the option NOTA (None Of The Above) as no party had clearly opposed the project.
“People argued with us, using religion or ‘Modi’ or ‘sympathy for Poojary’, as reasons why they would vote. Clearly, Yettinahole was the last priority,” said Mr. Holla, adding that project proponent M. Veerappa Moily winning from Chickballapur “does not augur well” as it shows that promises of implementation of Yettinahole project can garner votes in the arid areas around Bangalore.
With the issue becoming irrelevant here, the environmentalist believed assurances of MP Nalin Kumar Kateel — who, after his re-election, reaffirmed his stance to “oppose” the project — “could not be taken seriously”.
Similarly, Ravikiran Punacha from Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Hasiru Sene, lamented the lack of discussion on the project, and has made it one of the demands for their daylong protest in the city on May 20.
Change in political struggle Conceding that the March 3 district bandh was successful partly because political parties were looking to derive mileage from it, Mr. Holla said the group will now shift focus from Dakshina Kannada to Sakleshpur where the project will be implemented. “We will instead focus on getting a resolution passed by the gram panchayat there. This can be a powerful opposition to the project,” he said.
While the sanchaya will move away from the political battle, Bangalore-based Independent candidate K.N. Somashekhar, who fought on the platform of environmentalism against the project, is intent on taking it forward.
Though an outsider to the district, Mr. Somashekhar secured 3,421 (0.3 per cent vote share), making him first among seven Independents. Also, what is of note is that his focus on impending water shortage due to the project found a majority of his votes (63 per cent) coming from rural constituencies of Belthangady, Bantwal, Puttur and Sullia.
“The result is encouraging as youth in rural areas seemed interested. I came alone one week before elections, and now I have more than 3,000 friends. I will now continue my struggle politically as well as on the streets,” he told The Hindu .
