The country’s green court has disposed of an application that challenged the controversial ₹13,000-crore Yettinahole drinking water project. With this, the stage is set for the completion of the first phase of the project, which envisages diversion of 24 TMC of water during the monsoon months from four tributaries of the Netravati.
On October 5, Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Delhi disposed of an appeal by environmentalist K.N. Somashekar, who petitioned that the project would be detrimental to the eco-sensitive Western Ghats, and challenged the exemption from environmental clearances stating that the project was not just for supply of drinking water, but also for irrigation.
Work on the ₹3,716-crore Phase I of the project to construct weirs across Yettinahole and other tributaries as well as installation of underground pipelines in Sakleshpur taluk had been slow due to the cases filed.
However, the NGT disposed of the petition stating: “We direct the user agency to proceed with the construction of Yettinahole Phase I project, only subject to compliance of various conditions and directions in terms of the detailed judgment that will follow.” The full judgment is expected to come later in the month.
K. Jaiprakash, Managing Director of Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd., which is implementing the project, said the judgment represented a “major victory” for the State government, which “effectively” presented the need of the project. “There are two more petitions before the court, but these have already been addressed in this judgment. We expect those to be disposed of soon and work can progress with speed,” he told reporters on Friday.
VJNL expects work on Phase I to be completed by February, and nearly 70% of the project has been completed. He said ₹2,282 crore has been spent on the ‘lift component’ i.e. weirs, pipelines and pumping stations. However, the petitioner, Mr. Somashekar, said the legal route has not yet reached a dead end. “The government cannot claim victory as the court is yet to list out conditions of approval. Even a small change in the conditions can help us... NGT had expressed the view that a court-monitored committee will be set up to oversee the execution of the project,” he said.
Moreover, he said the judgment will be challenged in the Supreme Court. “NGT looks only at environmental issues. We will take up legislative and corruption-related issues in the Supreme Court,” said Mr. Somashekar.
What next for the activists?
The judgment comes at a time when the opposition to the project is undergoing an existential crisis. Activists in Dakshina Kannada hope to bring the issue back to mainstream discussion during the 2018 State Assembly elections.
An informal forum of opponents had first taken the political route in 2012-13. However, calls for district dharnas elicited a lukewarm response, while a campaign for citizens to choose NOTA (None of the Above) during the State Assembly elections yielded little.
“We have tried our best, and we are resigned to the fact that there is no stopping this project,” said Dinesh Holla of Sahyadri Sanchaya, one of the organisations in the heart of the protests. “The best we can do now is try to raise awareness of the environmental issues to an extent that it becomes at least a talking point during the next Assembly elections.”
They hope to rake up enough support from independents in the coming elections and rally behind them. “We don’t hope of winning. But, a significant vote share will create fear in local political circled from taking up similar projects,” he said.
