Dust accumulationreported in Jokatte

Residents of Jokatte and neighbouring areas, on the outskirts of the city, woke up on Wednesday to see black dust accumulating on some buildings, vehicles and plants, reportedly from Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical coke and sulphur plant.

Later, they informed officials from MRPL and the Karnataka Pollution Control Board. A team of officials from MRPL’s environment wing visited these places and collected the samples.

A spokesperson from MRPL told

The Hindu that the team from the company is trying to find out whether the black dust seen in Jokatte was indeed from the MRPL unit. Rajashekar Puranik, Environment Officer, Karnataka Pollution Control Board, said that a team from KSPCB will visit the area on Thursday. Following several instances of black dust accumulation reportedly from the coke and sulphur unit, the KSPCB last year got an expert team to study the cause and then wrote to MRPL to comply with six conditions related to operation of the unit. “Except for ongoing work of shifting of silos, MRPL has complied with all the conditions. The shifting of silos has to be completed by December,” Mr. Puranik said.

B.S. Hussain of Jokatte Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti, which is fighting the cause of Jokatte residents, said that accumulation of black dust in their area seen on Wednesday has come after a long gap. He said that the district administration is yet to act on acquisition of 27 acres of land in the area for creation of buffer zone for MRPL units.