A rally will be taken out in the city on Monday to urge the State government to drop the on-going Yettinahole or Netravathi diversion project.
The rally would be taken out under the auspices of the Netravathi Rakshana Samyukta Samithi, Dakshina Kannada, from Ambedkar Circle to the office of the Deputy Commissioner.
Addressing media here on Friday, K. Vijaya Kumar Shetty, president of the samithi, said that the rally would be held as a prelude to what he said, “voluntary Dakshina Kannada bandh” called on May 19 against the project.
Mr. Shetty, a former MLA, alleged that B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada and Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology, is least bothered to press the government to drop the project. “Mr. Rai is not responding to the pleas of the samithi and the people of Dakshina Kannada,” he said.
The former Congress MLA alleged that Mr. Rai did not have any knowledge about the project and its implications. He was not bothered to consult the experts also.
People in Dakshina Kannada, particularly in the city, who have been facing water scarcity, have now understood the importance of the Netravathi. It was improper on the part of Mr. Rai to state that there was no link between the Yettinahole project and the Netravathi going dry this year.
He said that except the Communist Party of India (Marxists) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), all other parties and many organisations have supported the rally.
Harikrishna Bantwal, an advisor of the samithi, alleged that Mr. Rai was not speaking against the project to “save his chair or portfolio”.
M.G. Hegde, another advisor of the samithi, alleged that now Mr. Rai and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, former Chief Minister and now Union Law Minister, were hand-in-glove in justifying the project.
He said that the committee opposed any move by Ivan D’Souza, MLC, to constitute a three-member committee locally to study issues relating to water scarcity in Dakshina Kannada and suggest remedial measures. None of the members in the committee were hydrology experts, he added.
‘Rally will be held as a prelude to voluntary Dakshina Kannada bandh on May 19’
