Mangaluru : Netravathi Rakshana Samyukta Samithi, an action committee to save the Netravathi, said here on Tuesday that its call for “voluntary Dakshina Kannada bandh” on Thursday to urge the government to drop the Yettinahole or Netravathi diversion project has received good response.

Addressing media, K. Vijaya Kumar Shetty, president of the samithi and a former MLA, said that transport bodies, including autorickshaw unions, taxi unions and bus unions, have extended support to the bandh call.

He said that he was appealing to people not to disturb supply of milk, water, newspapers and movement of ambulances and other medical services.

Mr. Shetty said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should fix a date for an interaction over the pros and cons of the project with the activists and experts. Why is he not coming forward? he asked.

Earlier, last year, Mr. Shetty said that the Chief Minister had fixed the date on Vijayadasami Day.

It was not possible for the experts, committee members and the activists to go to the meeting as it was a festival day, he said.

It appeared that the date was fixed on the particular day with an intention to avoid a meeting. Why was the meeting not fixed on some other non-festival day? he asked.

Mr. Shetty reiterated that B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada and Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology, should resign as he is the leader of the district. To a question, he said that the samithi was not demanding the resignation of all other MLAs from Dakshina Kannada now. “It will be used as a last resort,” he said.

M.G. Hegde, an advisor of the samithi, urged that Mr. Rai should call a meeting of all MLAs, MPs and former legislators of the district to impress upon the government to drop the project.

He said that scarcity of water now has forced many hotels in the city to serve meal only one time and hostels to send students back home. If the city was facing water scarcity even before the project was completed, one can only imagine what would happen in future.