Prakash Javadekar’s ‘positive’ response to Yettinahole activists

Mangaluru: In an effort to stop Yettinahole project, activists along with Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel submitted a memorandum to Minister of Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar on Thursday.

The team which included activists representing ‘Save Western Ghats’ movement, K.N. Somashekar, Prof S.G. Mayya, legal advisor Prince Isac and Nalin Kumar Kateel, met the minister with a request to withdraw the exemption from the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) granted to Yettinahole Project. “We wanted to bring the issue to the notice of MoEF Prakash Javdekar and met him on Thursday. We are happy that there was a positive response from the minister. He assured us there would be no injustice and he would look into the matter,” Somashekar told DC from Delhi. “We requested the minister to withdraw the exemption granted in favour of the project, direct the MoEF Regional Office, Bengaluru not to consider the Yettinahole Project for Stage I clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and freeze further processes in respect of the project,” he added.

“The state government proposed Yettinahole project, to divert 24.01 TMC of water from the tributaries of the Netravathi, in the guise of supplying water to Kolar, Chikaballapura, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagar and Devanahalli. The proposal has been examined by the Expert Appraisal Committee for River Valley & Hydroelectric Projects in its meeting and your ministry has issued a clarification for applicability of EIA,” the memorandum stated.