A campaign to save Sundekere river launched

A campaign to save Sundekere river, which supplies water to Mudigere town, was started on Monday.

The 'Sundekere Nadi Ulisi' campaign has been launched by various organisations. The members and office-bearers of these organisations visited the banks of the river, which has been encroached upon.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to Town Panchayat chief officer, tahsildar and sub-inspector to clear the encroachments.

"The town has been receiving water from the river for the last several years. If the river is not saved, then it will become extinct. Some influential persons have encroached upon river by dumping the soil," they said in the memorandum.

In the memorandum, they also said that illegal pumps have been installed in the river to draw water from irrigate coffee estates. Last year, the officials had seized the pump sets. As the officials have failed to take precautionary measures to check unauthorised pump sets, check dam of the river has become dry. As a result, water is supplied to Mudigere town once in three to four days. Further, garbage is being dumped to the Sundekere river. The authorities have failed to take any action, they have claimed.

'Sundekere Nadi Ulisi' campaign office-bearers T Harish, Ranganath and others have urged the authorities reclaim the encroached land by March 29.

"The soil dumped in the river should be cleared. A check dam should be constructed in a scientific manner and water should be purified in the river. If the authorities fail to reclaim the encroached land by March 29, then the members of the campaign will clear the encroachments and remove the silt," they warned in the memorandum.