Mangaluru: The Nethravathi river diversion project will affect most of the farmers who are dependent on the Nethravathi River for their livelihood. The government is planning to solve the water scarcity problem in Kollar and Chikkabballapur District by diverting the flood water from Sakleshpur which is linked to Nethravathi River. If the government continues with this project, it will have a bad impact on Western Ghats. Government is planning to lift 24 9TMC of water which is not a small amount of water.
Veerappa Moily, who originally hails from Dakshina Kannada is the current MP of Chikkaballapur Constituency. Even after knowing the ill effects of this project he strongly pushed for it. The state ministers who also represent Dakshina Kannada have failed to take a stand against the project. Their absence in political meeting and public meetings about the project clearly shows their disinterest in the project.
This project will have an adverse effect on the people of Mangaluru, who depend on Netravathi River. Apart from this it is dangerous for the Western Ghats. It will also affect the aquatic and wildlife.
This project involves cutting down the forest of Western Ghats which estimates more than 100 hectares of forest. The forest has to be cut down for construction of the dam and water pipeline for pumping the water. It requires a huge amount of electricity to pump water from low level to high level. Mangaluru is facing power shortage as it is. This might also result in a shift in the climate condition.
There are a lot of protests and awareness seminars taking place, but the numbers of people involved in these are few in number. If the awareness programs are more frequent, may be the number of people involved may rise. Knowledge about the situation can be created by spreading information not only to colleges but to also school children and teachers so that everyone will be aware of the situation at hand.
Now a days, flats and malls are increasing in number and one can only imagine the quantity of water that will be utilized, keeping this in mind the project is not worth carrying forward. If the project is carried forward they won’t be any water left in the District to provide for our daily needs. The government has to understand the downside of this project and withdraw this project immediately.
About Author :
Rushank NG is a student of Nitte Institute of communication pursuing his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism. His hobbies are watching movies, listening to music, reading books etc.