People opposing the Yettinaholey river diversion project blocked National Highway 75 connecting Mangaluru and Bengaluru for almost three hours at Uppinangady in Dakshina Kannada district on Tuesday.

The protest call was given by a host of organisations against the State government’s move to divert water from the Yettinaholey stream in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district to districts in the eastern part of the State.

The activists say the project is aimed at diverting the Nethravathi river, the lifeline of Dakshina Kannada district.

Various non-governmental organisations, farmers’ organisations, religious heads, representatives from Tulu movie industry and students attended the protest march on Tuesday morning. Political leaders from Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress also participated in the protest march.

Niranjan Rai, coordinator of the committee set up to oppose the project, said the blockade marked the beginning of a series of protests planned against the project.

Stating that the people of Dakshina Kannada are not against providing drinking water to any district, he said they are opposing the project as it would cause irreparable damage to the eco-sensitive western ghat section in Karnataka.

Dinesh Holla, who represented Sahyadri Samrakshana Sanchaya, said the government was attempting to divert water from other rivers in the Western Ghat region, as the water available for diversion from the Yettinaholey is less than the estimated.

(The Karnataka government estimates to divert 24 TMC ft of water from the Yettinaholey at an estimated cost of ₹13,000 crore. However, a report by the Centre for Ecological Sciences of Indian Institute of Science estimates the availability of water at 9.55 TMC ft from this project.)

By noon, when it started to rain, police took away the protestors and cleared the highway. The movement of vehicles on the highway at Uppinangady began at around 1 pm.

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