BENGALURU: Hundreds of people sat on a satyagraha in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Saturday demanding that the State Government drop the ambitious Sharavathi Pumped Storage Power Project in Shivamogga district.
Organised by Parisarakkaagi Naavu, headed by former MLA AT Ramaswamy, the satyagraha saw eminent personalities collectively voicing against the 2000 MW power project in the two reservoirs of Talakalale and Gerusoppa. The project will impact the state’s only Lion Tailed Macaque Sanctuary and calls for the felling of over 10,000 tress, they claimed.
The project will be executed by Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) at a cost of Rs 10,240 crore.
Former Supreme Court judges, Justice N Santosh Hegde and Justice V Gopala Gowda along with actor and environmentalist Suresh Heblikar, MLA BR Patil, and pontiffs of various mutts and religious institutions took part in the satyagraha.
“The protest in various forms will continue till the government drops the project. We are not against development, but the question is, is it required. The location where it is proposed is a wildlife sanctuary. The UNESCO protected and heritage site- Western Ghats- has already been destroyed for various works, this is destruction,” Ramaswamy said.