Karavali BJP leaders exercise caution on Yeddyurappa’s stand on Yettinahole

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru,, Jan 10, 2017: Leaders of Coastal BJP, Bharatiya Janata Party and RSS, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha, who have been opposing the Yettinahole Water Diversion Project, are exercising guarded caution to the reported statement of BJP State chief B.S. Yeddyurappa that he would convince the party leaders in Dakshina Kannada of the need to allow implementation of the project.

Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha member Nalin Kumar Kateel, who is spearheading the anti-Yettinahole stir and RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, recently said that the State party leadership has the onerous responsibility of convincing the people of Dakshina Kannada that the project would not snatch away their water.

Given the condition that the region, having faced a water famine last year, is at the brink of another water famine yet again, the leaders have to convince that the water diversion project would not dry up the lifeline of Dakshina Kannada, the Netravathi, they said.  While people of the district are not against giving water to people in the parched districts, the sharing cannot be at the cost of the Nethravathi.

He said that before venturing further, the government should explore other technical possibilities of providing water to the parched districts. He added that the local BJP leaders too would speak to BJP’s Yeddyurappa on the issue. “It is not going to be easy for him [ Yeddyurappa] to convince us in the matter,” he noted.

Bhat said that there is no substitute to water and asserted that they would keep insisting that demands of the region for potable water are met before a similar need of other districts is addressed through the Yettinahole project.

MP Kateel said that local leaders have often conveyed to the State party leadership the opposition of people of the region to the project. He said that there is no difference of opinion within the party. He said that they have asked the government to prove that 24 tmcft water was available in the Yettinahole. The party has also demanded setting up of a team to study the impact of the project and stop execution till it submits the report.