Karnataka seeks Rs 4,708 crore from Centre for Yettinahole project

On Tuesday, the Karnataka government requested Rs 4,708.14 crore from the Central government in New Delhi to fund the Yettinahole drinking water project under the Jal Jeevan Mission. This massive infrastructure initiative aims to supply drinking water to drought-hit regions of South Interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru Rural, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga, and Tumakuru.

Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Eshwar Khandre met with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil and Minister of State V Somanna in the national capital to submit the formal petition. Khandre urged the Union ministers to integrate the project under the Centre's flagship Jal Jeevan Mission, which focuses on providing drinking water facilities to rural households.

The Yettinahole project is designed to extract water by diverting a west-flowing tributary of the Nethravathi River inland. The state government plans to utilize 14 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet of this water for drinking purposes, while allocating an additional 9.95 TMC feet to recharge depleting groundwater levels in the target districts.

Once fully operational, the project is expected to benefit approximately 75 lakh people living across 6,600 villages in the five drought-affected districts. The Karnataka Water Resources Department is currently executing the project.

Originally conceived in 2014 with an estimated cost of Rs 12,900 crore, the ambitious river diversion project has faced significant delays and cost escalations. The total cost is now projected to exceed Rs 23,000 crore by the time of its completion.

Despite the delays, some progress has been made. Stage one of the project, which involved diverting floodwaters from Yettinahole and its tributaries, was inaugurated in September 2024.

The second phase of the project is slated for completion by 2027. Ongoing works for this phase include the construction of a gravity canal along the entire length of the project, the Bhairagondlu balancing reservoir in Tumakuru district, and feeder canals to supply water to Kolar and its surrounding areas.