Daijiworld Media Network - Kaup (JD)
Kaup, Apr 21: A strong protest is brewing in Mooluru village, falling under the jurisdiction of the Kaup Municipality, against the proposed construction of a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP).
An emergency meeting of the villagers was held on Monday, April 21, in the evening at the premises behind the Sarveshwara Babbaraya Kodamanittaya Temple in Mooluru to oppose the project.
Before the meeting, the villagers gathered at the temple to offer prayers, seeking divine intervention to prevent the implementation of the project in their village.
According to a recent report published in a newspaper, around 1.78 acres of agricultural land in Mooluru has been sanctioned by the Kapu Municipality for the construction of a sewage treatment unit to manage the wastewater of Kapu town.
The said land is classified as wetland (nanj land) and is surrounded by houses, agricultural fields, groves, sacred groves, and religious sites. The villagers expressed deep concern that if the unit is constructed, there is a high risk of contamination of the groundwater, which is the primary source of drinking water for the village. They also fear that the foul odour and chemically mixed waste discharged from the plant could pollute the entire environment and lead to the spread of deadly diseases such as cancer and malaria.
In the emergency meeting, it was decided that on Thursday, the 24th of the month, villagers would gather at Babbaraya Katte in Mooluru at 8:30 am and proceed in a protest rally to the Kapu Municipality. A formal memorandum will be submitted to the Tahsildar, the chief officer of the municipality, concerned authorities, the MLA, and the former minister.
The villagers collectively took an oath that not even an inch of residential land in Mooluru will be allowed to be used for such a hazardous project, vowing to resist the construction of the STP until their last breath.
Prominent individuals present at the meeting included Manohar Adhyantaya, Naveen Shetty Bikriguttu, Advocate Naveen Mooluru, journalist Purushottam Saliyan, Prabhat Shetty, Prakash Anchan, Ashok Putran, and Sudhakar, among others.