Govt. must review Yettinahole project, MLC

Govt. must review Yettinahole project, MLC

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Nov 30, 2016: Addressing the media, Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLC, said that he had urged the State government to rethink on the Yettinahole project.  ‘If Netravati goes dry, it will have a cascading effect over the entire coastal belt’

MLC Poojary said the project had been drawn up based on wrong data, especially with regard to rainfall. The rainfall received in the erstwhile Dakshina Kannada district was far less than that mentioned in the G.S. Paramashivaiah Committee report.  Such was the situation in the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada that the drinking water shortage, which used to earlier begin in April, now begins in January itself. When this is the case, it is not prudent to divert water from the Netravati to the parched districts of south Karnataka. “Netravati is the lifeline of coastal districts. If its riverbed goes dry, it will have a cascading effect over the entire coastal belt,” he said.

The total cost of the Yettinahole project is Rs. 13,500 crore.  Of this, already Rs. 1,800 crore has been given to contractors, who have only brought large pipes and kept it there. The pipes are rusting. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has assured to call a meeting in this regard within a fortnight, he said.

In contrast, the State government had spent Rs. 700 crore for the Varahi Irrigation Project in Udupi district, and it took about three decades for the first phase of the project to be completed, he said.

Demonetisation :  MLC Poojary said that the Congress, which had earlier planned a ‘Bharat Bandh’ to protest against the demonetisation move of the Union government, changed its tune and decided to hold Aakrosh Divas because of lack of public response.

The people are largely supportive of the demonetisation move. Various surveys back this contention. It is not the poor or the middle class the Centre is targeting, but the rich with black money. It is wrong on the part of the Siddaramaiah government to have not held the legislature session, he added.