Mangaluru : The Netravathi Rakshana Samyukta Samiti on Sunday urged the government to immediately set up Coastal Water Conservation Authority and draw up permanent drinking water and irrigation project plans for the coastal region.

Speaking to presspersons here, samiti member and former bureaucrat V.V. Bhat said the authority should have backup from the Legislature and consist of not only government representatives, but also experts in civil engineering, general public and representatives from local bodies of the region.

Through the authority, people in the coastal region should be able to claim their rights over rivers and other bodies that mee their various demands. While the government is making every effort to implement Yettinahole water diversion project, the Paschima Vahini project being promised by public representatives for coastal region is not even on papers, Mr. Bhat said.

Former professor of Applied Hydrology with National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, S.G. Mayya, who has been voicing concern over Yettinahole for years, said that the government has tacitly admitted water was not available in Yettinahole in the recent budget.

While people in the coastal region are not averse to share the water, they are completely opposed to destruction of water sources by undertaking projects on the eco-sensitive Western Ghats, he clarified.

Those fighting against Yettinahole have reached almost a dead end and the only alternative is to seek a river water disputes tribunal. However, a tribunal can be set up to settle inter-state disputes and government’s adamant nature to push the Yettinahole project is fomenting demand for separate state for coastal Karnataka.

Activist M.G. Hegde said despite the threat looming large over the coastal region, people have remained mute spectators. Already, the region is affected by water scarcitiy and in a decade it is going to be barren if Netravathi is diverted. A time would come when people would have to migrate to other places, he warned.

He castigated people’s representatives, industries, educational institutions and real estate developers in the region for their indifferent attitude towards the problem and urged them to join hands with the samiti.