A team of officials from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on Monday visited several villages in the taluk to assess the environmental damage caused by the Yettinahole drinking water project in the Western Ghats.
The team, comprising Conservator of Forests N Avinash, DCF R Padmavathi and environment scientist Thirunavukkarasu, visited the taluk as per the directions of the National Green Tribunal and inspected Aluvalli, Kadagaravalli, Kerihole, Bagudahalli, Kadumane, Yettinahole and Kesaganahalli. They inspected the check dams at Aluvalli and Kadagaravalli and gathered information from the authorities concerned.
Farmers Subbegowda, Vishwanath and others explained that they were cultivating arecanut, coconut and cardamom in the region. Their lands have now been taken over by the government for the project, but they are yet to receive compensation, they said.
Local officials explained that over 6,000 trees were axed for the project. This irked the environmentalists, who claimed that more than 15,000 trees had been axed so far. This led to heated arguments. The team expressed disappointment over the documents related to the project that were submitted by the officials.
DCF Manjunath, ACF Ramesh Babu, Malenadu Janapara Horata Samiti president H A Kishore Kumar, the complainant, and others accompanied the team. The members refused to disclose anything to the media and said a report would be submitted to the Green Tribunal before January 16.
Published 02 January 2017, 20:00 IST