Moodbidri : A meeting convened at the Puttige Gram Panchayat office on Friday July 18 to  inform the villagers about the proposed 7 mw  hydel project at Nagundi on the borders of Puttige-Kallamundkur, was cancelled halfway through following stiff opposition by the villagers for the project.

Pandemonium prevailed at the meeting right since the beginning when  the information provided by Sridhar Shetty, the Managing Director of Siddhi Shree Powers Company, landed villagers in confusion.

 If is learnt that Shetty informed the meeting that his company secured permission for generation of 2 mw of power as per the  decision of the KRDL meet of 2009 and that it had requested  in a letter to the Mangalore Forest authorities  to permit generation of 7 mw of power. Moreover the company seeking the NoC from the Panchayat even  when  an agreement  ought to have been reached between the government and the company within 45 days of  getting permission for power generation, also  invited the ire of the villagers.

Most of them walked out of the meeting forcing the authorities to cancel the meet. Even advocate Felix Cardoza, members Nagavarma, Vasudeva Nayak and others alleged that the company had no proper information and the GP Chief Umanath Karkera also made it clear that NoC cannot be granted if villagers are not happy about the proposal.

Meanwhile, Sridhar Shetty who spoke to reporters said he would initiate the project after taking villagers into confidence and also assured maximum compensation to villagers who will lose land for the project.

The project requires land measuring 4500 meters and the water level will not be above 5 meters. It also requires ten feet wide land on either side for laying power lines, he informed.