Little by little, since June, the Gurupura river bank at Bangra Kuloor has become a sort of dumping ground, with tonnes of mud, tree stumps, tyres, plastics being strewn by the river. Apart from the violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules, what is surprising is that some of the dumping is by contractors working for the Mangalore City Corporation itself.
“No one knows when it has started. But what is apparent is that of late, trucks have been coming in the night, dumping their load of garbage on this stretch. The river has become a dumping yard,” said resident Jeevan D’Souza.
Other residents believe that a resident has been collecting a commission from contractors to dump in his land by the river. He is among the residents whose land has been eroded considerably by the river. Mr. D’Souza claims that he has lost 1.4 acre to the river. The official revenue records however still show the submerged land in the name of residents. The particular resident is said to be collecting money to allow dumping of waste in order to reclaim the submerged land which is in his name.
Complaint
In a complaint sent on August 22 to Deputy Commissioner N. Prakash, Coordinator of the Mangalore Citizens Forum Vidya Dinker said: “…violation had continued in full public view.” Following the complaint, Manjunath Shetty, MCC Environmental Engineer, said one truck was caught red-handed depositing waste by the river on Tuesday. On enquiry, however, it was found that the truck – which was dumping vegetation, tree stumps and other such waste – was contracted by the MCC engineering wing to clean out the waste in and around Mangala Stadium.
“We have sent notices to the Engineering Division, and warned the contractors against continuing this dumping,” he said. Similarly, residents and the area and the health inspector have been told to intimate the Department if the dumping continues.
Meanwhile, Mahesh Kumar U., Assistant Director (Fisheries) and in charge of enforcing the CRZ rules, said a notice has been sent to Arnold, in whose land the dumping had been carried out. “In his response he has said that he was trying to reclaim land. Even though the land is in his name, dumping waste there is a violation of CRZ rules,” he said.
Section 3 (VII) of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2011 states that dumping of city or town wastes, including construction debris, industrial solid wastes, fly ash for the purpose of land filling … is prohibited in CRZ notified areas.
