Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Feb 16: At the consultative meeting on 'environment change' held at the office of Dakshina Kannada district deputy commissioner here on Sunday February 15, people came up with various issues like wasting public money towards dumping rocks into the sea to prevent erosion, industries and special economic zones which are not regulated by the pollution control board, environmentally harmful Yettinahole project, inefficient solid waste management system, etc.

There were also demands for seteting up for environment conservation police stations.The programme was held by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.

In his initial address, deputy commissioner, A B Ibrahim, noted that the district is covered on one side by sea. He expressed the apprehension that because of depleting underground water table and expansion of sea, salt water problem is likely to pose major threat to the district in the form of drinking water scarcity in the future.

He also requested the concerned to also pay attention to the fact that huge funds are being spent for dropping boulders into the sea every year in the name of protection against sea erosion.

Kateel Dinesh Pai, an environmental activist, said that study about the impact on environment an industry may have is not being conducted before issuing licence to it at present. He pointed out that the government itself is indulging in environmentally harmful projects like petrol, chemicals, and petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR), giving nod to Yettinahole project which will mar the environment, etc in the region.

Padmanabha Ullal of Citizens Forum said that as per the Supreme Court directive, no industrial area can be set up within a radius of 20 km from residential areas. He said this rule has been violated in the city.

Senior environmental officer of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, N Laxman, explained about the scope and purpose of holding such meetings. He said 15 such meetings are proposed to be held in the state, and opinions expressed therein would be placed before the government in the form of a detailed report.

A number of people including professor in Manipal University, Prof Raghuveer Pai, Henry Walter of Disha Trust, B R Manjunath of Mangalore University, Dr Sucheta, and others came out with their suggestions and opinions.

Additional deputy commissioner, Sadashiva Prabhu, Prof G Sriniketan of NITK Suratkal, Board's environmental officer, Ganesh, were present.