Phalguni pollution: Panel formed to find solution

Karnataka , Mangaluru : 21/01/2018 : With untreated domestic sewage from Mangaluru City directly joining Phalguni (Gurupura) River, it has become a cesspool thereby endangering aqua flora and fauna even as groundwater near the river has become contaminated, say environmental activists Dinesh Holla and Shashidhar Hegde. PHOTO: H_S_MANJUNATH

The district administration has set up a committee to study and find a solution to the pollution of the Phalguni, according to Mohammad Nazir, Commissioner, Mangaluru City Corporation.

The committee consists of officials from the city corporation, Revenue Department, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, Department of Industries and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), he told the council of the corporation on Wednesday.

Dayanand Shetty, a councillor of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who raised the subject in the meeting of the council, expressed concern over the pollution of the river which supplied drinking water to some villages from Malavoor dam.

Replying to it, the Commissioner said that Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S. has already initiated action in the matter.

He said that Mr. Senthil has instructed the corporation to ensure that no sewage joins the river through open stormwater drains.

In addition, there is the issue of untreated effluents discharged from industrial units in Jokatte that joins the river downstream from the Gurupur vented dam and the same get stacked against the dam with the ingress of salt water from the sea upwards towards the dam. As the dam supplied drinking water it is not possible to lift the vents of the dam now for free flow of water to sea.

The pollutants and any debris in the river and sea that flows inland normally gets dissipated with free flow of river water up to December and pollutants tend to get accumulated downstream from the dam once the planks are lowered to supply drinking water, he added.