Irked by the alleged inaction of Mangaluru City Corporation and the police against fish transporting vehicles discharging wastewater along the road, residents of Jeppu and a few activists on Friday staged a protest and stopped such vehicles at Morgan’s Gate.
The residents and activists of Tulunadu Rakshana Vedike stopped nearly 10 vehicles since Friday morning at Morgan’s Gate junction. They allowed vehicles to move only after the drivers closed the knob of the tank in which wastewater was stocked for carriage.
Residents and motorists had been facing hardship from vehicles carrying fish as they were discharging wastewater along the road leading to Ullal and Kerala. The wastewater, which contained oil, had rendered the roads slippery and resulted in motorists skidding and falling off their vehicles. Motorists were also facing problems from droplets of wastewater that were often falling on their trousers.
Yogish Shetty Jeppu from the vedike said that in spite of registering several complaints, the authorities had failed to initiate any action against vehicles discharging wastewater on roads.
“The drivers close the knob and prevent wastewater from being discharged while entering Kerala. Laxity on the part of local officials here had allowed drivers to ignore discharge of wastewater along the road here,” he said.
Activists and residents began checking the vehicles at 6.30 a.m. at the Morgan’s Gate junction for leakage of wastewater.
After ensuring that there was no leakage, the vehicles concernedwere allowed to move. Drivers of some vehicles, who got a hint of this activity, diverted their vehicle towards Valencia and joined the National Highway at Gorigudde.
