Mangaluru (The Hindu): The State and Union governments are not following the ‘Raja Dharma’ and prevent the harm likely to be caused to the Western Ghats from the proposed Yettinahole Diversion project, senior Congress leader B Janardhana Poojary said here on Saturday.

He told presspersons that the State government was going ahead with the project despite concerns raised by experts and activists on the ill-effects that the project may cause to the Nethravati and to the eco-sensitive Western Ghats.

With the Regional Empowered Committee giving a green signal for the first phase of the project, the Union government has backed the State’s action, Mr. Poojary said. Turning his ire against Union Law Minister D. V. Sadananada Gowda for supporting the project, Mr. Poojary said the former chief minister was portraying himself as a generous person before the people of the arid regions by offering to provide water from Yettinahole.

He also criticised Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel’s silence over reported clearance for the first phase of the project.

Mr. Poojary said that Major Irrigation Minister M. B. Patil has so far not discussed about the project with him as directed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

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