Has Netravathi become a waste basket?

The government - may be in the form of the district administration or the gram
panchayats - is working towards creating an awareness about cleanliness through various programmes. However, one should look at the plight of river Netravathi here to understand how far these programmes are effective.

Netravathi has been becoming a waste basket. Severity of her pollution is increasing day by day. The lifeline of Dakshina Kannada, Netravathi, originates on Kudremukh hill ranges, falling under the Western Ghats. It joins Kumaradhara in Uppinangady that originates on Kumaraparvatha, located behind Kukke Subrahmanya.

Thousands of people use Netravathi’s water before she joins Arabian Sea in Mangalore.

A number of religious centres too use this water as a sacred resource.

However, as stated earlier, her pollution degree is going up every other day.

Over 1,000 kgs of solid waste is being produced in Uppinangady every day. The wastes from poultry farms, meat shops are extra. The point to be noted here is more than half of this waste, i.e, over 500 kgs waste, is being disposed to Netravathi every day.

Since the pit meant for waste disposal is already overflowing, the shops and hotels in the town premises are disposing their waste to the nearby river. In addition to this, the drains are also connected to the river. According to a research conducted by the students of a local school, the Netravathi water contains dangerous bacteria which is unsuitable for consumption.

After Chikungunya attacked in August last year, even today hundreds of men and women are suffering from its after-effects. People know that the creatures responsible for such diseases originate in such conditions but nobody likes to take preventive steps.

Netravathi, at present, looks like insect production centre. Locals are apprehensive that any contagious disease may break out this monsoon due to the level of pollution here. Hope the health department considers the case at the earliest.