The residents of Dakshina Kannada must perhaps thank the recent and recurring Cauvery crisis and the efforts of the Tamil Nadu Government to secure a share of the same including its Chief Minister ‘Amma’ J Jayalalithaa for saving district’s life line Nethravati River. You may wonder why. 
According to the information provided in an answer to unstarred question No. 404 by Prof. KV Thomas and others on 17/11/2016 the Minister of state for water resources, River development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan informed the Lok Sabha that under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for water resources development through inter basin transfer of water prepared by this Ministry, NWDA has identified 30 links (16 under Peninsular Component & 14 under the Himalayan Component) for preparation of Feasibility Reports. After survey and investigations feasibility Reports of 14 links under Peninsular Component and 2 links in the Himalayan component have been prepared. The projected cost of Inter-linking of Rivers as per National Perspective Plan (as per Task Force Report – Base year 2002) is as follows:
However, the total expenditure likely to be incurred on inter-linking of rivers can only be known after completion of all individual Detailed Project Reports, the information provided says.
One of the peninsular projects indicated in the Peninsular Component is the linking of the Nethravathi and the Hemavathi Rivers. According to the information provided, both the Central and state governments have jointly completed even the Pre Feasibility Report (PFR). The report mentions Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala as the concerned states in regard to this project. However in Annexure II to the information provided in response to the questions raised, the Minister states that the project has now been rejected by the Karnataka Government stating “Govt. of Karnataka intends to utilize Netravati water as per its own plan”.
According to sources the main concern of the state government is that, as the Hemavathi River is a tributary of Cauvery, in coming days the state may forced to share Netravathi river water too with the Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “As the Yettinahole project is already in progress it was not too difficult to link these rivers as Hemavathi flows in Hassan. But fear of an additional water dispute forced the state to say no to the project after the PFR,’ explained an officer.
Threat to Western Ghats
According to the information furnished by the minister Pre Feasibility Report (PFR) has also been completed over the Bedti – Varda link of Uttara Kannada district. “The whole project area falls under the thick ever green western ghat area. If the project is implemented it will destroy thousands of acres of forest,’ he explained.
The Minister also listed the following as the the other major river linking projects taken up in Karnataka: Krishna (Almatti) – Pennar link, Pennar (Somasila) – Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link, Cauvery (Kattalai) – Vaigai -Gundar link, Mahanadi (Manibhadra) – Godavari (Dowlaiswaram) link, Godavari (Inchampalli) – Krishna (Pulichintala) link, Godavari (Inchampalli) – Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) link, Godavari (Polavaram) – Krishna (Vijayawada) link.
