Veteran engineer and lobbyist for the erstwhile Netravathi River Diversion project ‘Toposheet Brahma’ G S Paramashivaiah died here on Tuesday.
He was a man held in high regard by politicos and engineers for lobbying for irrigation projects in the arid zones of central Karnataka.
He suffered a cardiac arrest around 11.30 am. He was taken to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead.
He was born to Murugeppa and Nanjamma in Gubbi on February 12, 1919 and he did his BE in civil engineering. He joined government service in 1944 and retired in 1974 after working in various capacities in the PWD and Irrigation departments.
Under the S M Krishna government, Paramashivaiah worked tirelessly on the Netravathi River Diversion Project. Although his reports had suggested diverting surplus water from the Western Ghats, many governments were reluctant to approve it in toto citing ecological destruction and opposition from the public. But successive governments showed keen interest in alternative projects.
The incumbent Congress government recently laid the foundation stone for the Yettinahole project, much to Paramashivaiah’s frustration as it will bring only 24 tmcft of water.
He had dreamt of a bigger project that would bring more than 50 tmcft of water through natural garland canals with the help of gravity. His supporters in Kolar and Chikballapur districts staged strikes against the Yettinahole project, though there was no popular support for him at his home turf Tumkur.
