Move beyond eviction notices

Is there a way to take out all the plastic-burning industrial sheds that have been playing havoc on the banks of the Vrishabhavathi river valley in Kambipura and Anchepalya for three years now? Local residents have tried all they could but the authorities are yet to get cracking.

A tanker seized and a few units shut here and there does not halt the problem, residents lament. A spot visit by DH did show that the burning continues even during day time. Yet, the Kumbalagodu Grama Panchayath officials insist that the problem is more or less solved.

Here’s why: The officials say that after a meeting of all the stakeholders 10 days ago, the Panchayath had served eviction notices to 11 units. “We have decided to install CCTVs and notice boards to stop the illegal burning and dumping of industrial waste into the river,” an official informs.

Besides, check-posts will be erected during night times to halt the entry of trucks and tankers that dump the waste, the official adds.

Residents say unless words are followed up with action, nothing much will change. In the past too, meetings with all the stakeholders, including the industrial unit owners had failed to resolve the problem. “There was some relief for two to three months before the burning started again,” notes a resident, Avinash.

Dubbing the eviction notices as a ‘very soft blow approach,’ residents say the burning is unlikely to stop. As if to prove their point, smoke billowed out of a unit right after the meeting.