Karnataka's Yettinahole Water Supply Project To Get 500 Acres From Forest Dept, Says DK Shivakumar

The meeting, attended by key officials including Karnataka’s Special Representative in Delhi TB Jayachandra, focused on the progress of both the Yettinahole and Upper Bhadra projects.

In a significant development for Karnataka’s Yettinahole drinking water project, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar announced on Thursday that the state Forest department has agreed to hand over 500 acres of land crucial for the project's implementation. This decision reportedly came after a meeting with Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre at Vikasa Soudha.

Shivakumar, who also serves as the Water Resources Minister, as per PTI stated, "The Forest department has handed over 500 acres of forest land for the project. In return, the Revenue department has agreed to hand over an equal area of revenue land to the Forest department. The process will be completed soon."

The meeting, attended by key officials including Karnataka’s Special Representative in Delhi T B Jayachandra, focused on the progress of both the Yettinahole and Upper Bhadra projects. The Yettinahole project aims to supply drinking water to Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Ramanagara, and Bengaluru Urban districts by drawing 24 tmcft of water from the Yettinahole river in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district.

Shivakumar noted that officials identified various challenges facing the projects and discussed solutions during the meeting. "There were bottlenecks at 20 different places over a stretch of 260 km pertaining to forest land. We conducted a joint survey involving the Forest and Revenue departments, and the issue is now resolved. The work will start soon," he said.

He also mentioned that a compensation of Rs 51 crore needs to be given to farmers in some areas with Rs 10 crore already released. Differences between the Forest and Revenue departments over compensation will be addressed in the upcoming Cabinet meeting.

Shivakumar highlighted ongoing preparations for the pending balancing reservoir in Doddaballapura taluk. "In the first phase, water will be pumped to a distance of 48 km by next month. A technical committee has been formed to explore using water currently flowing into the sea," he added.