TUMKUR: Dharmsthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade clarified on Thursday that he will continue his objection to the proposed Netravathy river diversion project which he termed unscientific. He told reporters that the project will be opposed until the experts and scientists give their report.
"MPs and MLAs who were lobbying for the project, claiming it as feasible, cannot be considered. Experts, including environmentalists, have to decide," he said.
When it was brought to Heggade's notice that GS Paramashivaiah, an expert from Tumkur, had claimed the project as scientific, he replied that a lone expert's take on the project was not sufficient. "I am not opposing the project just to deny water to Tumkur and other districts, but out of concern for the people, fishermen and environment. Moreover, I do not need to take a plunge into politics by using the issue," he clarified.
Later Tumkur BJP MP GS Basavaraju, who has been lobbying for the project, said that utilisation of 50 TMC out of 600 TMC water flowing to the ocean will not cause any damage to the people of DK and the environment. It is in fact not the Netravathy river diversion project but the diversion of west flowing rivers through gravity to facilitate drinking water to Tumkur, Chitradurga, Kolar and Bangalore rural districts, he maintained. I will take the support of Heggade and convince the people of DK to get the project implemented, he said.
It may be noted that the SM Krishna government had given administrative approval to the project and even released part of the amount for survey by a Hyderabad-based remote sensing agency. Basavaraju was then in the Congress. Now he has been urging the BSY government to release the amount to the agency to continue the survey.
However, Western Ghats Conservation Task Force committee chairman Ananth Hegde Ashishara has been opposing it.