Residents of Harle village in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan heard a loud sound during the heavy rain on Tuesday morning. As they came out of their houses and looked around, they saw a massive landslip has swept away a portion of the road that serves as a link for many villages to Sakleshpur and Shiradi Ghat (Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway).
The landslip swept away the road, covered a tank with mud, and uprooted many trees and plants on the coffee estate. All of a sudden, the workers lost the road to reach the other end of the estate, and the students could not reach their schools and colleges.
Yettinahole project
The incident happened around 6 a.m., according to workers on the estate. The local people expect that nobody was travelling on the stretch when the landslip occurred. The movement of KSRTC buses and other vehicles have been stopped on the stretch.
The local people have blamed the Yettinahole project for the disaster. The project meant to carry 24.1 tmcft of water from west-flowing streams to drought prone areas of the State has been implemented unscientifically, they allege.
Poornesh, whose estate has been damaged due to the landslip, said that as part of the Yettinahole project work, a pipeline had been laid. “The workers laid the pipes cutting soil almost 20 to 30 ft deep. They did not cover up the surface after laying the pipes. When they conducted a trial run of the water supply, the surface was damaged again due to vibrations. Now, during the rain, the loose soil is moving further down, causing damage to our lands,” he said. His areca plantation has been covered by debris, and the tank in his estate has been filled with mud. The planter said that many such incidents would occur wherever pipelines had been laid in the taluk.
The locals said the region had been known for heavy rain. However, landslips never occurred. The damage was being caused by unscientific work done for the Yettinahole project. They wanted Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar visit the place and take measures to avoid such instances.
A massive landslip near Harle estate, in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district in Karnataka, swept away a portion of the road that serves as an alternative to the Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway. The landslip occurred at night on July 29, 2024. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Also Read : Karnataka Rains LIVE updates: Landslips at Shiradi Ghat, Sakleshpur taluk
