Mangaluru: Chief minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the much-awaited new exit road from Mangaluru International Airport at Bajpe on Thursday, April 21.

Speaking to reporters and answering queries here, the CM said that a separate Board will be formed for Yettinahole Project considering the size of the project.

“It is rather a misconception that Netravathi river water will be diverted under the project. It is only the excess water during the monsoon, which will be diverted,” he said allaying fears that the project may fail.

He further said that though he had convened a meeting with activists and environmentalists opposing the project, the latter cancelled the meeting.

“I am still ready to convene the meeting whenever they say in Bengaluru,” the CM said.

No Vendetta politics

Answering a query on the state government’s decision of moving Supreme Court over BJP state president Yeddyurappa’s acquittal in corruption cases, he said that it was not due to political vendetta that the ruling Congress at  the state had decided on the move, but it is the belief that no one is above the law and that law treats everyone equally, which had driven the decision.

Garment workers’ stir

On the High Court’s remark that the state government had handled the garment workers’ stir inefficiently, the CM said that the police forces had to go mild because there were over 2 lakh people protesting, most of whom were women.

“Our mildness came across to be our inefficiency, but the fact is that we did not fail at our duty,” he said.

Ministers Ramanth Rai, U T Khader, Abhaychandra Jain, Mangaluru South MLA J R Lobo, Mangaluru North MLA Mohiuddin Bava, Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj, MLC Ivan D’Souza, Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim and others were present.