The works on Yettinahole project will be completed in one-and-a-half-years, said Chikkaballapur MP and former chief minister Veerappa Moily.



Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Moily said, “Major hurdles to Yettinahole project are cleared. The project will criss cross Cauvery and Krishna river basins. Yettinahole is a unique and very well conceptualised project.”



“There is no doubt about the parched districts - Tumakuru, Kolar, Chitradurga, Bengaluru Rural and Chikkaballapur - getting 24 tmcft of water from Yettinahole project. Already Rs 3,500 crore has been spent on the project. The state has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 4,000 crore, this year,” Moily said. He said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed Visvesvaraya Jala Nigama Ltd to convince the farmers to part with their land for building aqueduct.



“Water will be drawn to Vani Vilas Sagar by December-end. Water will be taken to other districts after the completion of canal works. At a few places, water will be drawn through gravitational force,” Moily explained.



Project will not harm DK

Taking a dig at a section of people and the elected representatives for opposing the proposed Yettinahole project, Moily said, “When MRPL Special Economic Zone project was sanctioned, the so-called experts and ecologists had opposed saying that fish and fishermen will die. Now, the project has been implemented. Nothing has happened. Vested interests create fear among the people when a pro-people project is brought. Yettinahole project will not harm Dakshina Kannada.”



Yettinahole project is not Netravathi river diversion and the proposed project will not have any adverse effect on the eco-diversity of Dakshina Kannada, Moily said.



About 600 tmcft of water from Karwar to Ullal in Dakshina Kannada is drained into sea. The project aims to tap just 24 tmcft of water. Moreover, the project aims to tap Kumaradhara river water and not Netravathi or its tributaries, he said.



In most parts of central districts, the incidence of fluoride is high in water. Many children are suffering from fluorosis and other ailments due to consumption of fluoride-mixed water. There is no drinking water problem in Mangaluru, the former chief minister said.

