Alternative land to be identified for 8 families in Kalmakaru: DC

Deputy Commissioner Dr Rajendra K V said that alternative land will be identified for eight families residing in the mudslide-prone Kalmakaru village in Dakshina Kannada shortly. By the next monsoon, all the eight families will be shifted to the alternative identified land.

Speaking on the sidelines of a programme, he said that Ganeshnagara in Mittabagilu of Belthangady is also prone to landslides. The GP has been asked to identify alternative land for the families to construct their houses.

The DC said that he has requested experts from NIT-K, Surathkal, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) and Geological Survey of India to conduct a study on the reported mudslide in Kollamogru, Kalmakaru areas in Dakshina Kannada district.

The Village Accountants and PDOs have been asked to identify the houses situated in vulnerable areas that are prone to landslides in the district.

“I have issued directions to panchayat development officers (PDOs) of Gram Panchayats, Village Accountants, to ensure that permission is obtained from the revenue department for levelling hilly areas with a difference of three feet or one metre and above,” he said.

Footbridge campaign

The DC said after a child was washed away in a swollen water body while crossing the delicate wooden footbridge in the Udupi district, the Dakshina Kannada district administration has directed all the ULBs and gram panchayats to identify such wooden footbridges that are being used by schoolchildren and adults to cross the waterbody during monsoon.

The officials have been directed to submit a report by August 16. Priority will be given to those areas where the delicate wooden bridges are used by schoolchildren to reach their schools by crossing the water body.

To a query, the DC said that the work on installing bronze statue of Kedambadi Ramayya Gowda, who had led the revolt against the British in 1837--two decades before the first War of Independence-1857, at Bavuta Gudde (Light house Hill)-Tagore Park shortly.