BENGALURU: Hundreds of people gathered at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Saturday to protest against the proposed Bedti-Aghanashini river-linking project, demanding that the government abandon the proposal in the interest of protecting the Western Ghats and Uttara Kannada district.
The protest, organised under the banner ‘Save Western Ghats, Protect Uttara Kannada’, was attended by former lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, environmentalist AN Yellappa Reddy, Adamya Chetana trustee Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, Havyaka Mahasabha president Dr Giridhar Kaje and writer Jayant Kaikini, among others.
Addressing the gathering, Justice Hegde said no committee has been constituted to comprehensively examine the project and its implications. He alleged that rivers were being diverted under pressure from vested interests and described the proposal as anti-humanitarian.
“Experts should have been consulted before taking up such a project. A committee should have been formed to assess whether the water available in the rivers would be sufficient for the local population, and a report should have been obtained before proceeding,” he said.
Reddy urged the government to assess the ecological consequences of diverting the rivers and submit a detailed report. He questioned the rationale of protecting people in one region at the cost of the environment and livelihoods of those in another. He also expressed concern over the condition of the Kali river and called for collective action to prevent further environmental damage.
Kumar said people of Uttara Kannada had been fighting to protect their rivers and environment for nearly four decades. Stressing that rivers should flow naturally into the sea, she warned that the government could move ahead with the project once the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was prepared.
“The struggle should not be limited to protecting Uttara Kannada. It should become a movement to protect our land,” she said, urging people to intensify their opposition before the project reached the implementation stage.
Writer Jayant Kaikini said his opposition to the project was based on environmental concerns rather than political affiliations. He argued that changing the natural course of the Bedti and Aghanashini rivers could threaten the lives and livelihoods of people dependent on their banks.
“Linking rivers is an unnatural intervention that could lead to destruction in the future. We do not belong to the Earth; we are part of it,” he said, calling for respect for natural river systems.
The protesters urged the government to reconsider the proposed river-linking project and prioritise ecological conservation and the interests of communities dependent on the rivers.