Yettinahole project halted for now

Mangaluru: Much to the relief of people of Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL) gave an assurance to the National Green Tribunal (South Zone) on Wednesday that it would stop work on Yettinahole drinking water project till the end of this month.

A case, listing violations of Forest Conservation Act by KNNL and filed by Yathiraju of Tumakuru, came up for hearing by NGT on Wednesday. “The tribunal asked KNNL if it was working on the project. The authorities said they had completed certain amount of work and are not working now.

The tribunal said it is illegal to work even in non forest area without obtaining the permission of MoEF under section 2 of Forest Conservation Act,” advocate Prince Isac, who argued on behalf of Yathiraju, told Deccan Chronicle. He said KNNL had informed the NGT on August 14 that it would not undertake further work in Yettinahole project.

“The same statement filed before NGT was incorporated to our case. The undertaking was filed in the form of an affidavit. One of our arguments was that there has been concurrent violation of the condition given by MoEF while granting permission for the project. The first condition says the project cannot be carried out without obtaining statutory permission including the permission of MoEF in respect of Section 2 of Forest Conservation Act,” he added.