TUMAKURU/BENGALURU: Tension prevailed at Sunkapura in Gubbi taluk of Tumakuru district after a protest against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s pet project of “diverting” the Hemavathi river waters from Tumakuru canal to Ramanagara district intensified at the project site on Saturday.
The agitators, numbering over 5,000, including farmers, led by BJP MLA B Suresh Gowda, JDS MLA MT Krishnappa, and several religious heads, blocked the road. They set tyres on fire and deflated the tyres of several KSRTC buses on the Bengaluru-Shivamogga highway. The police took hundreds of agitators into custody for violating the prohibitory orders under Section 163 of BNSS.
The incident forced Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to intervene and suggest to Tumakuru district in-charge minister Dr G Parameshwara, also the Home Minister, to resolve the issue. Parameshwara later held talks with Shivakumar, who is also the Water Resources Minister, on the sidelines of the DCs and zilla panchayat CEOs meeting in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, the protestors called off the strike setting a deadline of one month to the government to stop the project.
Parameshwara, defending the Hemavati Express Link Canal as it is being built based on a report given by the technical committee, said BJP’s protest was politically motivated.
“It was decided to build the canal at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore. As the work started, BJP opposed it. Shivakumar later held a meeting that was attended by the MPs and MLAs concerned. They demanded that a technical committee be formed and based on its report, the work was being carried out. If the report had said the link canal would cause problems, it would not have been taken up. BJP is opposing it for political reasons,” he said.
Maintaining that 40% of the project has been completed, Shivakumar said, “There is no reason to stop the work. Those who are there (in Tumakuru) and those who are here (in Ramanagara) are all our farmers. We will protect the interests of everyone. MLAs Krishnappa and Suresh Gowda were aware of the project but are now opposing it.”
On Union Minister of State and Tumakuru MP V Somanna’s letter to Siddaramaiah, urging him to shelve the project, Shivakumar said, “He (Somanna) is a big man... a union minister. Let us also seek his guidance.”
Somanna on Thursday, wrote to Siddaramaiah, urging him to discontinue the project to divert Hemavathi waters to Kunigal and parts of Bengaluru South district (formerly Ramanagara).
“There is an opportunity to provide sufficient water to Magadi, Ramanagara, and Kanakapura areas through the Manchanabele and Thippagondanahalli reservoirs. It is not right to deceive the people of Tumakuru,” Somanna stated.
“It is an unscientific project to divert 901 cusecs of water allocated to four taluks of Tumakuru district to the home district of state’s water resources minister (Shivakumar). It will become a curse for the people of Turuvekere,
Gubbi, Tumakuru (rural), and Tumakuru (urban) and the farmers of the district,” Somanna said.
He said farmers and technical experts have expressed concerns that the hydraulic head will collapse due to the construction of the canal, and there will be a shortage of water in the future.
Kunigal is represented by Shivakumar’s relative Dr Ranganath in the Assembly and falls under the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency, formerly represented by his younger brother, DK Suresh.