Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (EP)
Kundapur, Jan 11: The indefinite protests in front of the Varahi project office demanding water entered the tenth day on Saturday January 10. Minister of urban development and district incharge minister Vinay Kumar Sorake visited the spot and held discussions with the protestors.
Udupi district Raita Sangha president and MLC K Pratapchandra Shetty asked the minister what they should do 'when there is a government that takes no responsibility nor asks anyone to take responsibility'. "It is a conspiracy to generate electricity by utilizing the land of the farmers and the money from the government. Thirty-five years have elapsed since the Varahi project was started. The government has still not acquired land," he said.
"The government has provided EFI to the contractors, but not got the work completed by them. Such government will not be able to make the water flow in canals even after another 35 years. Let the government clarify if it wants to continue with the project. If it desires to provide water to the farmers, it will have to change the existing corrupt officials. The project should be subjected to investigation for the work done so far," he said.
Minister Sorake said that the protests have made the project work speed up. "The minister concerned will have to explain the causes for the delay, and not me. In this regard a discussion will be held on January 16 with ministers of irrigation, revenue and forest in order to hasten the project," he said. The protestors also told the minister that the engineer of the project had threatened them.
Villagers from Kalavara, Asodu, Korgi, Koni and Koteshwar led the day's protests. Udupi district Raita Sangha vice-president Sheshagiri Kota, Kundapur land development bank president Dinakar Shetty, Udupi district Congress Kisan unit president Shashidhar Shetty Elloor, Kemmannu gram panchayat president Nithyananda Kemmannu, Udupi block Congress Kisan unit president Sadashiva Kotian Kodavoor, Kaup block Congress Kisan unit president Sadananda V Shetty, former taluk panchayat member Nagappa Kothari, Prasad Jain Moodbidri, Umesh Shetty Shankuttu, former grama panchayat president Kushal Shetty
Alooru, Sathish Kini Belve, Sathish Kumar Shetty Kadri, leaders of various farmers' groups and office-bearers were present.
Students join protest
On Friday January 9, hundreds of students of Bhandarkar’s College and other institutions in Kundapur held protests expressing their solidarity to the indefinite strike.
The students boycotted their classes and marched in protest from their college to the Kundapur tahsildar’s office.
Addressing the protesters in front of the tahsildar’s office, student Deeksha K S said that water is an important part of the day-to-day life of people and it is essential for everybody. "We are not asking for luxuries. We are only asking for water," she said.
"No doubt that the dam has been constructed. But the water has still not started flowing in canals. Governments come and go but nobody has bothered about this work. Successive governments have only made empty promises. We completely support the demand for supply of water," the students said. They also submitted a memorandum to the tahsildar.
On January 2, a team comprising chief engineer of the project, Nataraj, and some project officials had visited the protesters and requested them to withdraw the stir. MLC Pratapchandra Shetty had posed some pertinent questions like reasons for inordinate delay in the execution of the project, why water was not released into the canals in spite of commitment made in the presence of irrigation minister to do so before the end of December, 2014, how could the project staff work in favour of contractors in spite of the fact that even after 35 years, works like land acquisition, licence from forest department, and works related to the project were not completed, and sought proper response. He reminded them that already Rs 568 crore has been spent for the project, but not even a drop of water was released for the benefit of farmers. Shetty had asked them to provide convincing answers for these questions before he could decide on the suspension of protest.
The officials, who were unable to provide convincing answers to these questions, merely said they had been asked to visit the protesters by their higher ups, and went back without any success.
On January 4, the Raita Sangha announced at a press meet that the protest would go on till water starts flowing in the canals of Varahi. The Sangha has also been demanding a thorough probe into the project and compensation for those who gave up their land for it. The same day, former union minister Oscar Fernandes visited the protestors and promised to ensure that the ministers from the coastal region visit them and hold talks. He also assured that he would speak to the chief minister on the issue.