people living in the Sagar taluk of Shimoga district in Karnataka have severely opposed a government move to construct a dam to irrigate nearly 405 hectares of khariff paddy land in the region. According to the non-government organisation ( ngo ) Vriksha Laksha Andolan ( vla ), the project will adversely effect 162 hectares of lush green forests as against the forest department's claim that only eight hectares will be effected.

vla maintains that the state has started to implement the project without getting due clearance from the Union environmental ministry. This, says vla , is a mandatory requirement since forestland will be affected by the project. Meanwhile, forest department officials are divided in their opinions on the extent of environmental damage that will be caused by the dam. While the conservator of forests says that only eight hectares of forestland will be affected, the assistant conservator of forests claims that the project will cause severe damage to the bio-diversity of the region.