MANGALURU: National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) principal bench is set to conduct the final hearing on seeking petitions to stall the controversial Yettinahole project, on Monday. The coastal and Malnad districts are eagerly waiting for the NGT order as already there has been delay since filing the case almost five years ago.
Over half a dozen petitions were filed before the NGT, of which two have reached the Principal Bench. The rest were rejected over various issues. The petitioners have contended that the project that aims to divert the flow of Yettinahole, a major tributary of the Netravathi river, to meet the needs of the water scarce in Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru and other districts, is actually an irrigation project and not a drinking water one as claimed by the government.
The petitioners have sought to junk the project on various grounds: it has no mandatory environmental and forest clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), it is an irrigation project as the DPR envisages to fill 525 minor irrigation tanks in the parched districts, it threatens the fragile Western Ghats will face the diversion of west flowing river and on the grounds of various other environmental issues as giant pipes cut through the megadiversity hotspot.