HASSAN: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar will inaugurate the first phase of the Rs 23,251.66-crore Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Supply Project at Hebbanahalli in Sakleshpur taluk on Friday.
Under the project, 24.01 tmcft of water will be used for drinking purpose and filling tanks in 29 taluks of Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts.
According to sources, 9.953 tmcft of water will be used to fill 527 major and minor tanks and 14.056 tmcft for drinking purpose. In all, 75 lakh people of 38 town panchayats and 6,657 villages will be benefitted by the project.
Siddaramaiah was chief minister when the foundation stone was laid for the project. The state government spent Rs 16,076.71 crore on the first phase of the project. An engineer associated with the project said the cost may go up to Rs 28,000 crore to complete work on the remaining two phases.
Earlier, it was called Netravathi River Diversion Project and later renamed as Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Supply Project. Members of various organisations of Dakshina Kannada opposed this project initially stating that their district will face water shortage. However, the government went ahead with the project.
Thousands of acres of land has been acquired for the project in Sakleshpur, Alur, Belur, Arasikere and other taluks of seven districts. Veerappa Moily laid the foundation stone for the project in Chikkaballapur when he was CM. As Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa too visited the project site.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who recently launched the trial run of the first phase of the project, said the project will be completed by 2027. Steps will be taken to resolve all problems after taking the forest department and farmers into confidence, he added.
Work on the second phase of the project could not be taken up as scheduled because of the delay in acquisition of forest and private land in parts of Belur and Arasikere taluks, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the district JDS leaders alleged that the Congress has forgotten the contribution of BJP and JDS leaders for the project. They expressed unhappiness over the government’s decision of not inviting Mandya MP and Union minister HD Kumaraswamy to the inaugural function. The government has invited all cabinet ministers and the MLAs of 19 taluks to the function.
