Farmers, activists oppose Karnataka Cauvery tower project

A proposed project of the Congress-JDS government to build a 125-ft tower at the site of the Krishna Raja Sagar dam on the river Cauvery in honour of “Mother Cauvery” has been opposed by river activists and farmer leaders from Mandya region. The construction of the 124-ft tower has been jointly proposed by Water Resources minister, Congress’s D K Shivakumar, and tourism minister, JDS’s S R Mahesh. Veteran activists like 87-year-old G Madegowda of the Cauvery Protection Committee — who has campaigned for decades for Karnataka’s share of the Cauvery water — have opposed the project and warned of an agitation in Mandya region. At a recent meeting of activists and farmers in Mysuru to discuss the proposed tower and an amusement park near the dam, G Madegowda, a former Congress MP, said the proposed project could endanger the dam at a time when it is need of repair. “Plans for construction activity near the dam will only weaken it. There is a lot of illegal sand mining in the riverbed which the state must stop to protect the dam. The state is proposing construction instead of planning to strengthen the dam,’’ Madegowda said. “Farmers must come together to oppose the move since these activities will have a bearing on them,’’ he said. “To build a 125-ft tower, they will have to drill into the earth around the dam and this can damage the structure of the dam,’’ said B Nagendra, a local leader of farmers’ outfit Raitha Sangha. Source: The Indian Express