BENGALURU: The state government is literally leaving no stone unturned on the Yettinahole project as it is keen to show some progress before the 2018 Assembly election. The project aims to supply drinking water to Bengaluru Rural, Kolar, Tumakuru, Hassan, Chikkaballapur and Ramanagara districts.
The `12,900 crore project envisages lifting of 24.01 tmcft of water from Yettinahole river in Dakshina Kannada district to be supplied to the six water-starved districts. According to officials, there is pressure from the government to complete some part of the work so that there is visible progress, before April 2018.
“It’s a long-term project and involves land acquisition. We do not know how long it will take for completion. We hope to complete at least 40 per cent of the work by end of March 2018,’’ an engineer working on the Yettinahole project said.
Sources pointed out that all these days, the project work was focused on Yettinahole and Sakleshpur regions. But since the beneficiaries are the voters of districts represented mostly by Congress leaders, progress on the project is likely to play a crucial role.
On March 25, the Revenue Department issued a notification and appointed a special land acquisition officer for construction of a canal in Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagara districts.
Speaking to Express, Chief Engineer (Yettinahole Project), Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd Selvaraj said the government is keen in completing the project at the earliest.
“The first phase, which involves pumping of water from Yettinahole to Haravanahalli reservoir, should be completed in about a year. Along with that, we will also complete 53 km of canal work out of the total 274 km linking Haravanahalli reservoirs (Sakleshpur) to Byragundlu reservoir (Koratagere). The entire project will take three to four years if land acquisition is done soon,’’ he said.
Work on the first stage of the project is already under way. Land is being acquired wherever necessary, and at some places, land acquistion has been completed and work has started. “Tenders have been awarded for five packages,” sources said.
The canal linking Haravanahalli and Byragundlu reservoirs will run through Arasikere in Hassan district. “We have called for tenders for conducting social impact assessment before acquiring land for the canal work. The water stored in Byragundlu reservoir will be released through different canals to Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagara districts, and also to Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. But this will take another three years,’’ an official said.