Mangaluru: K. Raghupati Bhat, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MLA, said on Saturday that Minister for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, Pramod Madhwaraj’s statement that water from the Varahi would be supplied to Udupi city, was misleading as neither a proper feasibility study had been taken up and nor tenders had been floated.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Bhat said that the ₹ 260-crore project to bring water from the Varahi through a pipeline was a total non-starter and meant to eyewash the people as Assembly elections were nearing.

“Is it possible to bring water from the Varahi along the road from Halady to Udupi as is being planned?” he asked.

“There are several turns on the road and water is unlikely to flow through it,” he said.

Mr. Bhat said that there should have been land acquisition and a corridor should have been made to lay the pipeline from Halady to Udupi.

The villages en route could have been provided with drinking water so that they do not oppose the project.

But now the people of Halady were already up in arms against this project. Soon, people from other areas too would oppose it. “Why is Mr. Madhwaraj not ready to share any more details about this project?” he asked.

Most of the projects, which were being inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday, had been started when the BJP was in power in the State. Most of the projects for which Mr. Siddaramaiah was laying foundation stones did not have work orders issued for them.

“It is totally wrong for the Chief Minister to inaugurate such projects for which work orders had not been issued during his visit to the district on Monday,” Mr. Bhat said.