Major hurdle for Yettinahole project cleared: MoEFCC gives in-principle approval for diversion of forest land in Hassan, Tumakuru districts

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) of Government of India has accorded in-principle (stage-1) support for diversion of 111.02 hectares of wood onshore successful Hassan and Tumkur districts for the Yettinahole Drinking Water Project, targeted to supply h2o to drought-prone areas successful Karnataka.

In a missive dated April 1, 2026, the Forest Conservation Division of the MoEFCC informed the Additional Chief Secretary (Forest, Ecology and Environment) successful Karnataka that the Centre accorded the stage-1 support nether the Van (Samrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Abdhiniyam, 1980, for diverting the onshore to conception a gravity canal passing done the 2 districts.

The MoEFCC has placed definite conditions with respect to compensatory afforestation, online transportation of the Net Present Value (NPV) of the wood onshore being diverted, colony of the rights with respect to Scheduled Tribes and accepted wood dwellers successful the wood land, among others.

The Visvesvaraya Jala Nigamal Limited, the task proponent, has to fulfil the conditions and instrumentality the moving licence to statesman the canal enactment successful the forest.

A elder authoritative stated that, with the approval, a large hurdle for the task had been cleared. Earlier, the connection was for diversion of 173.31 hectare. However, it had been revised to 111.02 hectares, owed to which the estimation outgo of the task went up by ₹425 crore. “Now, we person to amusement compliance for the condition, and marque indispensable payments to get the support to statesman the enactment connected the ground. The method procedures volition follow," the authoritative said.

Of the 252-km-long canal, astir 238 km has been completed. The remaining enactment volition statesman soon, arsenic the wood onshore contented has been cleared. “We are seeking practice from the departments of Revenue, Home, Forest to proceed the civilian work,” said the official.

The archetypal signifier of the work, which includes constructing 8 weirs astatine antithetic locations successful Sakleshpur, has been completed. The 2nd signifier was stuck owed to the hold successful getting wood clearance. As a result, the task implementation bureau was forced to divert h2o to Vani Vilas Sagar successful Hiriyur successful Chitradurga district. The officials are present hopeful of directing the h2o to Tumakuru territory by October this year.

The task has been designed to easiness drinking h2o woes of astir 75 lakh radical successful drought-prone Kolar, Chickballapur, Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkamagaluru, and Hassan districts.