Fulfil your promise by ordering probe into ‘money looting project’: Yettinahole activists to HDK

coastaldigest.com news network

May 21, 2018

Mangaluru, May 21: The green activists of coastal Karnataka who have been protesting against the multi-billion Yettinahole water diversion project have not forgotten the words of chief minister designate H D Kumaraswamy, who as an opposition leader not only had termed it as a “money looting project” but also had promised to conduct a detailed enquiry into it if he became the chief minister.

Even as the Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress are discussing modalities of HDK-led coalition government, Dinesh Holla, convener, Sahyadri Sanchaya, which is spearheading the campaign against the controversial project, said that if an enquiry was conducted people would come to know how much money has been looted.

“HDK had also promised to find out a solution to the water scarcity in parched districts. He should now reveal the solution instead of continuing to waste money in the name of Yettinahole project, Mr. Holla said.

Holla also said that the new chief minister and forest minister should immediately clarify their stance on the project.

Shashidhar Shettty, convener, National Environment Care Federation (NECF), took to Facebook to remind the CM designate of his old promise. Mr Shetty said that the JD(S) leader had stated in Mangaluru in December 2017 that the project was unscientific and would not help people of the parched districts.

Meanwhile, a group of green activists in Dakshina Kannada have decided to meet all all new MLAs of Dakshina Kannada to make their stand clear on the project. In seven of the eight constituencies of Dakshina Kannada BJP candidate have registered victories in recent polls while Congress won only one.

Even though the controversial project was launched by previous BJP government in the state, the saffron party leaders in the coastal Karnataka had started raising voice against it to woo green activists, after Congress government, which came to in the state in 2013, decided to continue the project. On the other hand, BJP leaders in parched districts had been slamming Congress government for delaying the work of Yettinahole proeject.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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