BELAGAVI
Confident of getting the necessary forest and other clearances, Karnataka is poised to begin work on the Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project.
On Tuesday, a team from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) accompanied by senior Karnataka officials visited the Kankumbi-Nersa region to ascertain the facts presented by Karnataka in the latest DPR.
AIG from MoEF Anjan Kumar BN assisted by district officers and regional officers from the ministry carried out the inspection till late Tuesday evening. The team which is camping in Belagavi and will be leaving for Athani in Belagavi district on Wednesday morning to inspect the land which the Karnataka government has agreed to compensate in lieu of the forest land allotted for the implementation of Kalsa-Bhandura project.
“The MoEF team suggested several measures to avoid damage to forest and wildlife pointed out the possibilities to avoid massacring thousands of trees at the project site by laying underground electric cables,” a senior officer said.
“Several top officials of the forest department briefed the team about the measures to be taken by the State government to avoid destruction of forest and wildlife during the implementation of the project.”
“The MoEF team will be visiting Telsang near Athani on Wednesday to inspect a vast stretch of land which is being allotted by the State government to the forest department in replacement of the forest lands to be used for Kalasa-Bhandura project,” the senior officer added.
The inspection is being carried out based on the new DPR submitted by the Karnataka government, said sources, while confidentiality was being maintained in the entire process. Senior officials from forest and irrigation department assisted the MoEF team.
It may be recalled that Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai earlier this month had stated that the government is inviting tenders towards the implementation of the project.
If villagers in the vicinity are to be believed, flurry of activities is being witnessed in the project area where necessary marking has been done for insertion of an electricity cable. Karnataka which is likely to get environment and forest clearance shortly is expected to go ahead with implementation of Kalsa-Bhandura project, accordingly a survey to set up a dam across Haltar nullah, for lifting the water is also seen.
