Yettinahole project | ‘Construction of canals may harm existing water bodies in Hassan dist’

Hassan, Oct 18: The second phase of Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water project, intended to carry water from Dakshina Kannada to dry land areas of Karnataka, has faced a fresh hurdle in Hassan district.  

Residents of many villages in Sakleshpur and Alur taluks of Hassan have raised objections to the manner in which work on the second phase of project is being carried out.

Alleging that the construction of open canals in their villages to carry water would harm the existing water bodies, they have demanded suspension of the project and urged the government to revise the execution of the project.

Kavan Gowda, an advocate, and Dharesh, a planter from Sakleshpur, said at a press conference here on Wednesday that Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Niyamita, the project implementing agency, has awarded the construction of two tunnels/gravity canals, one for about seven kilometres and another of two kilometres, to a construction company based in Bengaluru.

The company had also sought permission from the district administration to conduct blasts for tunnel construction. One tunnel starts at Hebbanahalli and ends at Belame and the second starts at Basavapura and ends at Bettada Aluru. The project would incur an expenditure of Rs. 335 crore.

“The company will dig trenches up to 90 ft. deep depending on the topographical condition. The work has already begun near Bettadapura. The terrain in Sakleshpur is not plain. We have got many tanks, borewells above the land where the tunnels are coming up. The open canals would draw water from the topsoil, leaving all our water sources dry”, Kavan Gowda said.

He has also filed objections to the project before the Deputy Commissioner of Hassan. Instead of the open canals, pipelines could be laid to carry water as it was done in the first phase of the project. The villagers have decided to protest if their demand was not met.