Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Apr 22: Even after 84 cattle belonging to dairy farmers from Henberu village near Ottinene near Byndoor in the taluk lost lives in a matter of the last some days presumably due to consumption of unhealthy waste dumped at Ottinene, people continue to deposit animal carcasses there at night.

Ottinene is a deserted place located by the side of the national highway, and vehicles which bring unwanted waste and bio waste from slaughterhouses including carcasses of pigs and fowls, dump them at night at Ottinene. The district administration does not seem to have taken note of the seriousness of the serial deaths of cattle of such a magnitude, the first in the state, going by the lethargy shown by it in taking preventive measures against unbridled waste dumping here.

Discharge of waste water by some vehicles on the carcasses thrown into the crevice here has created further problems. The people say they will not be surprised if an epidemic spreads in the area shortly. Even after ten days since viscera samples of deceased cattle was collected and sent to laboratory, no report about the findings has been received.

In the meanwhile, the police department said it will build a check post here to check vehicles carrying bio waste and animal carcasses.

President of South Canara District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd, M N Rajendra Kumar, accompanied by a number of dignitaries, visited Henberu on Friday, and distributed compensation amounting to Rs 3.20 lac to those who lost their cattle. He also announced additional ten percent of compensation on his own. He promised the people to grant easy loans without to need to follow long-winding procedures, and criticized the district administration for its failure in taking preventive steps at the dumping yard at Ottinene where these cattle graze. He said both SCDCC Bank as well as Navodaya Charitable Trust, of which he is the president, will extend assistance if the local panchayat wants to build a well-equipped dumping ground to stop animal casualties.