The Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Supply Project, initially called the Netravati Thiruvu Yojana, was approved by the Government of Karnataka to provide drinking water to drought-prone areas of Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Hassan, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Ramanagara, and Bangalore Rural districts. It plans to divert 24.01 TMC of water from west-flowing streams and fill 527 MI tanks to 50 percent capacity. The revised project report was sanctioned on 17 February 2014 at a cost of Rs 12,912.36 crore. The project is being implemented by the Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Limited (VJNL) under the Government of Karnataka.

The Yettinahole project cost has escalated from Rs 8,323 crore in 2012 to Rs 12,912 crore in 2014, and now stands at Rs 23,252 crore due to delays and rising expenses. Now again revised to Rs 25,151 crore. By June 2025, about Rs 17,147 crore had already been spent, including Rs 2,669 crore on land acquisition. The latest hike is linked to the new Land Acquisition Act, higher GST, tender premiums, route changes, and the shift to pipelines, with a revised project report approved in January 2023.

Seven drought-stricken villages in Tumkur district's Tiptur tehsil have protested against the acquisition of land for the Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Project, as government officials and politicians have not accepted their demand of receiving 1.5 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) water from the project in exchange for their land and have neither clarified the amount of compensation that they will receive for the same. The project was in the survey stage in Tiptur, when the farmers were boycotting the procedures.

Land is proposed to be acquired from Bommalapura, Madihalli, Geddalahalli, Edenahalli, Halepalya and Kanchaghatta villages in Tiptur, which is grappling with depleting groundwater levels, but the farmers from these villages will be unable to access any water from the project.

Yettinahole is a tributary of the Netravati River in the Dakshin Kannada district. The government plans to divert 24 TMC, or 672 billion litres, of the river water to provide drinking water to the drought-prone districts of Kolar, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapura, Hassan and Tumkur through pipeline and canals. If executed, the project will submerge many villages, affecting farmlands and displacing families. Even fisherfolk are expected to be affected due to the reduced water flow in the catchment areas of the stream. According to activists, the 91 families in Tiptur from whom land will be acquired fear that they may not be compensated as per the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013, because government officials have not yet announced the compensation amount. They had demanded that the government lay out the details of the compensation before proceeding with the survey. They had also accused the government of trying to rush through the work without discussing the rehabilitation and resettlement processes. They told LCW that there is an attempt to lure villagers by paying a small amount and getting tripartite agreements signed among three parties: farmers, contractors doing the civil work and the Special Land Acquisition Officer.

On 24 May 2019, the National Green Tribunal gave the green signal to the project. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) also approved the project following a spot inspection carried out in December 2015. Local organisations, such as Yettinahole Horata Samiti, have held several meetings with the affected farmers in Tiptur and tried to educate them about the land acquisition law. The Samiti, along with the Yettinahole Protection Committee and others, have also organised several demonstrations in Tiptur and blocked roads as a form of protest.

On 10 June 2019, activists were detained for a few hours for protesting along with some 1,000 farmers in front of the Tiptur Municipal Council office. On 24 December 2019, the Yettinahole Horata Samiti submitted a memorandum to the Tiptur Assistant Commissioner underlining their demands, which included fixing the compensation amount before the start of work, adequate compensation to land owners under the LARR Act and cancellation of surveys done in the absence of land owners.

In February 2019, an FIR was filed against a VJNL executive engineer for illegally using forest land, constructing a canal without approval, and continuing work despite the case being registered, with reports indicating that of the 274.35 acres sought, 266.87 acres had already been used. Subsequently, in July 2025, the Forest Advisory Committee of the MoEFCC ordered a halt to the Yettinahole project after a site inspection by its regional officers revealed multiple violations, including construction on 266.55 acres of forest land without the ministry’s clearance.

The Section 18 Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) orders for the Yettinahole project in Tiptur taluk, Tumkur district, were officially published in February 2022, as per the Tumkur District Administration's official portal. The orders cover several villages:** **Konehalli, Bidaregudi Kaval, Nagathihalli, Marugondanahalli, Bommalapura, Timmalapura, Gedlahalli, Annapura, Ramashettihalli, Bennayakanahalli, Bommenahalli, Karadi, Nyakenahalli, Bhairapura, Mallenahalli, Madlehalli, Aralaguppe, Siddanahalli, and Jakkanahalli.

On 4 June 2025, the state government approached the MoEFCC for approval to divert 111.02 hectares of forest land, revised from the earlier 173.31 hectares, in Tumakuru and Hassan districts.