Nearly a month since his earlier visit, Mangaluru South MLA J.R. Lobo has not found much progress in the works to rejuvenate the Gujjarakere – the biggest water body in the city. The contractors assigned with the work are still continuing to drain out the water since last month, while the Mangaluru City Corporation has yet to address the problem of sewage water seeping into the pond.
It was in February that Mr. Lobo launched work to rejuvenate the lake at a cost of Rs. 1 crore. The Department of Minor Irrigation was entrusted with the work of clearing the large amount of hyacinth accumulated in the lake . The Mangaluru City Corporation was asked to prevent seepage of sewage into the water body.
During the inspection of the work on April 27, Mr. Lobo directed the contractor entrusted with clearance of hyacinth to make use of more dredgers to clear the stagnant water in the pond, before the rain began.
On his visit on Saturday, however, Mr. Lobo found the contractor was using only one dredger to drain out the water. When questioned, the contractor Ganesh Putran said he was an getting additional dredger in the next few days. Mr. Putran said slowness in the work was due to workers involved in the activity reporting sick.
Residents complained to Mr. Lobo against the corporation for not addressing the issue of seeping sewage. Assistant Executive Engineer (UGD) Anil Kumar said they had started repairing the old line connecting the wet well and the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). After this work completes, they would start pumping sewage from the wet well to the STP.
