Feasibility report of 'Netrvathi Diversion project' infeasible'

Mangalore, September 2: Strongly opposing the 'Yettinahole water diversion project' recently approved by the Government of Karnataka, Vijayakumar Shetty, President of Karavali Jeevanadi Netravathi Rakshana Samithi, said that it lacked a specific objective, and was a waste of Rs 8,600 crore estimated as the cost of the project.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, the former MLA said that the feasibility report of the 'inter-basin water transfer' project obtained under RTI Act failed to mention basic areas of study such as the economic feasibility, damage to the environment and Western Ghats and the cost-benefit analysis of the proposed project. It also fails to mention the water needs of the riparian users, and is a deliberate attempt to deceive them, he said.

He said that the proposal which originally referred to diversion of 'Peak flow' from Yettinahole River, a tributary of Netravathi, was currently entitled 'Scheme for diversion of flood water from Sakleshpur (West) to Kolar/Chikkaballapur districts (East)'.

“While Sakleshpur was situated outside the Netravathi river basin, how could there be flood from that river or its tributaries? The term flood water is deliberately used to mislead the people. It is our moral duty to oppose the project,” he said and demanded that the Government withdraw it.

The proposal consists of 8 dams at different locations in the Western Ghats, and construction of huge pumps which required 370 MW of power, along with a high pressure pipeline in the forest region, which required the investment of Rs 8600 crore of tax-payer's money, he said.

Calling it a 'traitor project', he questioned the need for the creation of such huge infrastructure, which required such huge investment and caused irreparable damage to the environment and Western Ghats. Is it really going to solve the drinking problem of people of Kolar and Chikkaballapur, he questioned.

Terming the feasibility report as infeasible and misleading, Prof S G Mayya, Department of Applied Mechanics and Hydraulics, NIT-K Suratkal, said it did not contain any qualifications for feasibility. It contains a lot of wrong calculations and approximations regarding the available water at tapping points and amount of water proposed to be diverted. The rainfall data has been taken from unreliable sources instead of Indian Meteorological Department. While the basic average rainfall shows around 4500mm, the hydrological computations in the report are done with a figure of 6280mm. It has resulted in the over-estimation of available water by about 50 per cent, he said.

The report has also exaggerated the amount of water available at tapping points. The actual amount of water available at the proposed sites during the peak monsoons from June to November is only about 11TMC (thousand million cubic feet) and not 24TMC as envisioned in the report. None of the given facts have any clarity, he said.

The project can only be built with the approval of the donor river. I do not know how the Cabinet and Karnataka Niravary Nigama could approve the feasibility report. It is a just a money-making scheme by those in power, he alleged.

M G Hegde, leader of Janata Dal (Secular), P V Mohan, Congress leader, Vasudeva Boloor, and Hussain Kattipalla, were present at the press conference.