Karnataka: Residents of Sagar stage protest opposing Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project

Residents staged a protest opposing the Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project (PSP) in Sagar town, Shivamogga, on Monday. They urged the State government to drop the project considering the damage it could cause to the Western Ghats.

The people, who assembled under the banner of the Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project Struggle Committee, took out a protest march from Ganapati Temple to Gandhi Maidan, where they held a meeting.

Abhinava Channabasava Swamy of Mulegadde Math, addressing the gathering, said that the proposed PSP would prove to be a death knell for people depending on river Sharavathi. If the PSP was allowed to be executed, the government would take up the project to carry Sharavathi water to Bengaluru, he said.

The seer urged the government to respond to the people’s feelings on the issue and withdraw the project.

Former Minister Hartal Halappa said that environmentalists should stand beside the people displaced by reservoir projects in the Malnad region. As some environmentalists moved to courts, the issue of granting land to the displaced had been hit. “If we don’t support the people affected by the projects earlier, they will hardly support the struggles against fresh projects,” he opined.

Akhilesh Chippali, environmentalist, stated that the officers of the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited, the project proponent, had been misleading the public about the project by concealing information. They did not propose better alternative technologies to address the power shortage, as the project involved huge investment, he said.

Mr. Chippali said that the power required to pump water from Gerusoppa reservoir to Talakalale reservoir as part of the project was around 2,500 MW. However, the quantity of power being generated by the project was only 2,000 MW. “It is like we are spending ₹125 to earn ₹100,” he stated.

Raitha Sangha leader Shivanand Kugve said that implementing the project without taking opinions from people residing in the project area was against the basic principles of democracy.

Sagar City Municipal Council president Maitri Patil, vice-president Savita Vasu, and others took part in the protest.