Forest officials charge Yettinahole project contractors with violating norms

Contractors, engineers warned of legal action

January 13, 2015 02:24 pm | Updated 02:24 pm IST - Hassan:

Hassan Karnataka Jan 12.
Yettinahole integrated drinking water project is going in villages of Sakaleshpur taluk. The contractors are procuring materials. Photo by Special Arrangement.

Hassan Karnataka Jan 12.
 Yettinahole integrated drinking water project is going in villages of Sakaleshpur taluk. The contractors are procuring materials. Photo by Special Arrangement.

The contractors who have bagged the first phase of Yettinahaole integrated drinking water project, which is meant to carry water from the Western Ghats to the dry areas of Kolar and Chikkaballpura, have been warned of legal action by the Forest Department for taking up ground clearing work in reserve forest areas near Kadudaravalli in Sakleshpur taluk.

Ramesh Babu, Assistant Conservator of Forests, told The Hindu on Monday that the officials had noticed the violation of norms and had warned the representatives of the contractors concerned. “As per the project proposal, 18.3 ha of reserve forest near Yettinahalla and Kadudaravalli villages should be diverted. That has not yet been done. The State government has just begun the process. It involves survey of the land and grant of alternative land. The process is still in the preliminary stages. The contractor has launched the ground clearance work outside the forest areas. However recently, he crossed the forest limits by about 30 ft. for which we have warned,” the official said. The department has said, it will register a case under the Forest Conservation Act, if the workers repeat the mistake. “They can do the work in the forest area after it is diverted for the project, as per the set procedure. Till then, nobody can disturb the forest cover. In such cases, we will book cases against the contractor and the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd., which is the user agency, besides the engineers concerned,” he said.

In many places, the contractors have secured land on lease from farmers to keep the materials procured for executing the project. It is said that they have flouted norms by taking farm land on lease. Environmentalists have alleged that the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. is going ahead with the project work despite repeated demands for a full-fledged public-hearing on the project. During a meeting chaired by Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil in December last, the farmers and environmentalists objected to the State government implementing the project despite opposition from local people.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.