Yadagiri village land in Koratagere taluk which used to bring profit to the farmers of this region has now turned out to be a poisonous land full of dangerous chemical wastes. Two miscreants have been involving in this act, by digging out 25 to 30 feet deep under the ground in the land of Y N Narasimhappa, who used to grow all types of crops.

But now, that has become impossible. Five years ago, two persons who came to the village befriended Narasimhappa and requested him to get a land for contract. Narasimhappa, later gave away a waste land which was besides his land, belonging to Thimmaiah.

After some days, these two dug out the land and started pouring out industrial wastes and petroleum products from Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu and sold the empty tins. These tins cost Rs 500 to 1,000 in the market.

The wastes collected started disturbing the underground water system and water turned out be yellowish which effected Ragi  and other crops. Land around the area of 20 to 30 acres were affected.

However, this was discovered when the water shed department planned to plant saplings and when they started using water from Narasimhappa’s borewell, they noticed something wrong with the water and sent it for test. However, the result of the test shocked them as the water contained many harmful chemicals and also stated that the wastes which were collected had dangerous substances such as Aluminium, glass, Cobalt and others.

The public and the officials of environment pollution control board lodged a complaint with the police and the culprits were arrested, but these accused came out on bail. Social Worker Umashankar demands that, further investigation has to be done and the criminals should be punished.

Deputy Commissioner, Tahsildar, Madhugiri Sub division officer visited the spot. The district administration has decided to provide compensation and dispose of wastes and treat them properly. Though the assurance was given before many days, nothing has been done till today, say the public.