The social activist Medha Patkar has said projects such as river diversion and interlinking will have enormous impact on the environment.
Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the launch of a boat rally to Thiruvananthapuram, which was organised by National Fishworkers’ Federation (NFF), here on Friday, she said that diverting or interlinking of rivers cannot be done just like drawing a line on the map. Such moves would have major impact on environment.
She was replying to the queries by presspersons on the proposed Yettinahole project of the State government.
The project envisages diverting the Nethravathi river, which is the lifeline of the region, to interior parts of Karnataka. Green activists in coastal Karnataka maintain that the proposed project would affect the livelihood of people in the region.
Stating that the local people are not against sharing water with others, Patkar said areas downstream would go dry if the river is diverted. She said the rivers would be diverted from farmers to industries and corporates in the name of drinking water and irrigation projects.
Opaque deals Taking a dig at the various agreements signed by the Indian Government during the recent visits of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to different nations, Patkar said there is no detail on these agreements, and there is no transparency. All those agreements, and projects resulting out of those, will affect farmers, fishworkers and tribal people, she said.
T Peter, National Secretary of NFF, said the Meenakumari Committee in its report to the Centre had recommended the entry of foreign fisheries vessels and foreign crew in the Indian waters. Fishworkers will oppose that.
NFF is organising the 10-day boat rally from Mangalore to Thiruvananthapuram as part of its campaign to protect sea, coast, and inland water bodies and fisheries resources, he added.