Nethravathi turns dumpyard at Uppinangady

Few temples use water as theertha, mosques use it for voozoo

Dakshina Kannada district which has bagged state and national-level awards for total sanitation, is on the other hand witnessing a total maismanagement of waste, and a case in point is Uppinangady.

The river of bank of Nethravathi which has literally turned out to be a dumping yard, shows the darker side of the cleanliness campaigns.

 A major part of the solid and liquid wastes generated in the town is flown to the river, polluting it every passing day.

As Uppinangady gram panchayat lacks a dumping yard, the wastes produced in the town are dumped on the river bank. The liquid wastes produced by hotels in the town too are flown to the river.

 Apart from such wastes, even the decomposed bodies of cats and dogs are very often found in this waste flown to the river. The foul smell emanating from the waste is a matter of uncomfort to the public. Citizens are anticipating the spread of contagious disease if the plight continues to remain the same.

There are over 10 chicken stalls on the bank of Nethravathi river and the wastes generated in these stalls too are directly flown to the river through a pipe. The river water which flows from Uppinangady to Mangalore taluk, passing through several gram panchayats is used by the general public for domestic and other uses.

In fact, the same water is also used by some of the temples as ‘theertha,’ (sacred water) and Masjids use it for ‘voozoo.’

Despite several government sponsored programmes like plastic ban, sanitation movement, cleanliness campaign taking place in the taluk, unfortunately no initiative has been taken so far to control the river pollution in Uppinangady.