Scrap Yettinahole project, farmers, activists demand

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru: Coastal regions activists are glad to note that farmer leaders and environmentalists on Nov 9, Saturday, raised severe objection to the Yettinahole project and urged the state government to drop the project.  Addressing the gathering, Ballupet Jagannath, an activist, said, “Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water project is unscientific and it will not serve the purpose. The state government should scrap the project. Hundreds of acres are being destroyed owing to the unscientific project designed to supply water to drought-prone Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagaram, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural and Hassan districts. Instead, the government must chalk out a permanent solution to ensure sufficient drinking water to these districts.”


Jagannath urged the government to design schemes to make farmers self-reliant, enrich soil fertility and conservation of water. He said, there is a need to create awareness about the benefits of drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation among the farmers. “The modernisation and over exploitation of resources has resulted in global warming. Even the Malnad region is feeling the heat,” he said.

Malnad Horata Samiti president Kishore Kumar said, “The technical team has rejected the state government’s report on Yettinahole water project. Only 8 tmcft of water is available from the project but according to the government report, 24 tmcft of water is available. The government is pushing the project to loot the funds.”

Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha district president H R Naveen Kumar urged the district administration to ban potato and ginger cultivation as the crops would diminish soil fertility and leave the land barren.