Senior Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary on Monday termed the Yettinahole water diversion project a major scam set to tarnish the clean image of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and demanded a thorough probe by the Criminal Investigation Department.
According to his information, Meghana Constructions that is executing the work belongs to ‘tainted’ IAS officer Kapil Mohan, who once headed the Krishna Bhagya Jal Nigam Ltd. The officer had been raided by Central and State enforcement agencies and was allegedly found to have amassed assets disproportionate to known sources of income.
Mr. Poojary told presspersons here that a few vested interests, including elected representatives and officials, were bent upon tarnishing the image of Mr. Siddaramaiah. They have been misguiding the Chief Minister to go ahead with the project that does not in any way benefit residents of parched districts.
Otherwise, what is the logic behind spending over Rs. 13,000 crore to transport just 0.85 tmc ft. of water, Mr. Poojary questioned. According to the report by experts from the IISc, about 9 tmc ft. of water was generated in the Yettinahole catchment area, of which over 8 tmc ft. was required for local needs. Only 0.85 tmc ft. remains to be transported, he pointed out.
Lambasts Sadananda
Mr. Poojary lambasted Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda for his reported statement that the former was opposing Yettinahole for political survival.
“It is not me who has been talking in different tunes at different places; but it is Mr. Sadananda Gowda. He has been misleading people of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru and other districts for his political survival,” Mr. Poojary alleged.
“Mr. Gowda is bent upon destroying the life of people from coastal Karnataka,” he added.
