Mangaluru: Fund crunch has made activists reluctant to approach the green tribunal against the Yettinahole and Netravathi Diversion Project.
The state government’s initiative to divert water from Yettinahole (a tributary of Netravathi) to parched areas in Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru Rural has been severely opposed by environmentalists and people of coastal districts. With the state government deciding to continue the project and no political parties opposing this, activists have concluded that approaching the Green Tribunal could be the only solution.
However lack of fund seems to have stopped them.
“Approaching the green tribunal is not an easy task as we need a senior lawyer. Also there are many other expenses. According to a rough estimate it may cost around 15 lakh which is a very huge sum for us,” an activist told Deccan Chronicle.
“There is nobody among the activists who can afford to pay such a large amount. Even if all the activists pool the money, we may not be able to collect the amount needed,” he said.
Activists are also hesitant to collect money from the public.
“If we start collecting money, there are possibilities of politicians and those in favor of the project trying to tarnish our name alleging that we were making money. This may affect our movement. Even now we do not take any money. Those who want to help us, please do so by providing us the material needed for the movement like pamphlets or posters,” he added.
Meanwhile Sahyadri Samrakshana Sanchaya plans to organise seminars and talks by inviting experts.
“There are experts and resource persons in Chennai and Bengaluru who can explain to the people and elected representatives about the effect of water diversion. We will invite a senior personality and organise a seminar shortly,” Sanchaya convener Dinesh Holla said.
Activists are also planning to meet Medha Patkar during her visit to Mangaluru on Friday.
