Sewage being directly let into the Netravathiin Thumbe upstream, says Krishna Palemar

The former Minister cites this as direct evidence of sewage contaminating the Netravathi near Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada.

Stating that drinking water being supplied to the city from the Netravathi at the Thumbe vented dam was polluted, the former Minister for Environment and Ecology J. Krishna Palemar said on Tuesday that untreated sewage was being let directly into the river at 18 places in the Bantwal Town Municipal Council limits.

Sewage, including waste water with a mix of animal blood from an abattoir, was being let into the river in the upstream of the dam, he said.

Addressing media persons here, the former Minister said that the municipal council, which falls within the Assembly constituency of B. Ramanath Rai, who now holds the Environment and Ecology portfolio, should have set up a sewage treatment plant. Now, only underground sewage pipelines have been laid in Bantwal town.

“When I was Minister, Rs. 18 crore was sanctioned to the municipal council for laying underground sewage lines and constructing the sewage treatment plant,” he said. However, now the municipal council was saying that it did not have land for constructing the sewage treatment plant, he added.

Mr. Palemar said that he was not politicising the matter, as it was a serious issue relating to the health of the people. The issue should be addressed on priority at the earliest. The sewage flow into the river should be stopped at any cost. “Allowing sewage to flow into the river is a criminal offence,” he said.

Mr. Palemar said that he was now raising the matter after inspecting several such places where sewage is being allowed into the river course. He showed a video footage of some places where sewage directly joined water stored in the Thumbe dam. He also released some photographs.

He said that more the river water got contaminated, Mangaluru City Corporation used more chlorine to purify water being pumped to the city from the Thumbe dam, which (application of more chlorine), according to him, is not good.

Mr. Palemar said that if the authorities did not take corrective steps he would intensify his fight and take the issue to its logical end. He refused to elaborate on his next course of action to save the river from pollution.