A Smelling City! Education Hub Mangaluru turns out to be a ‘Open Drainage Hub’?
Mangaluru : Presently Mangaluru City Corporation not having a MOM or DAD to take complaints or rectify a few civic issues, including the menace caused by a bunch of OPEN DRAINAGE in the City, I would like to bring this report to the kind attention of our two MLA’s Vedavyas Kamath and Dr Bharath Shetty, even though since they took over their respective posts have hardly done anything in terms of city’s development, other than cutting ribbons and lighting lamps at inaugural functions, speaking blah..blah..blah in front of the microphones, and also blaming the former MLA and ex- MCC Mayors for their negligence and carelessness in City’s development works, and also including water scarcity etc- but haven’t these two MLA’s before their elections had promised to work hard for the development of the City, and also rectify many civic issues that haunt this City.
And so apart from many civic issues, among them is the long pending OPEN DRAINAGE issue that is creating a stink when you drive, ride or walk in many parts of the City- and nothing has been done by the former mayors, former MLA’s, political leaders- and for the fact, nothing is either done by the current two MLA’s- and in the meantime, the residents living very close to these bunch of Open Drainage have to raise their voices constantly- but with no results. Snaking through residential areas, and even between large commercial buildings that symbolize ‘hi-tech Education Hub-Mangaluru’, stormwater drains leave an unpalatable stench in their wake. They have turned into cesspools of filth and sewage. The odour coming out of these open drainage. But sadly no attempt has been made to rectify this issue since decades, nor attempts made to rein in the odour – for an environment point of view as well as sociologically. This odour from these open drainage must be treated as a pollutant, no doubt at all.
In many of the congested by-lanes and ramshackle apartment complexes carry putrid discharge emanating from one part of the City to the other end, and the drains make their presence felt even when you reach quite a distance from them. Ramesh, whose shop faces the drain near the Open Drain in Alake (the mother of all Drains?) says though he has lived in the area for years, the stench gets the better of him. “On days that the smell is particularly bad, I leave the shop and go for a walk…It seems to get worse every year, and even though they fixed the bridge over the open drain, but left the drain flow as usual” he says. While many living close to drains may have ‘got used’ to the smell, Victoria, who shifted to Bejai Church Road barely two months ago, where stinky open drainage passes by, can only sigh: “Some days, I don’t even feel like eating. It is a disgusting smell,” she said.
At Attavar near KMC Hospital, Raghavendra, a retired government employee staying in the apartment very adjacent to a open drain, says the drain close to his apartment – which seems to be born out of the toilets of most part of the city – makes the air seem heavy, acidic, much like having a ‘pile of manure’ close by. And if you ask-Are foul-smelling gases pollutants? How much odour is ‘permissible’? The concerned officials may not even give you the right answer but would agree that they may not be able to ‘legally’ pursue departments to contain the flow of sewage that causes bad odour. One such answer you may get from them is “We have standards for carbon, sulphur, nitrogen-based pollutants and even noise and dust. But, there is no national standard for bad odour,”.
It is learnt that ‘odour’ is a ‘secondary pollutant’ born out of water pollution. Both the Air Act and Water Act cover issues of primary pollutants. However, odour is a secondary pollutant and a by-product of some other type of pollution said an environmental engineer. While you sat comfortably (or not – depending on what you ate the previous night, probably a stuffed pizza or a chicken ghee roast) in your cozy bathroom, waiting for your anal sphincter muscles to work its magic and push out the smelly undigested contents from your body, have you ever wondered what happens to your poop after it goes down your commode? Bet you didn’t! Probably it could sneak into one of these open drainages in the city. To check more into this you probably need to follow Mangaluru’s poop trail?
Yes, I bet other than wastewater let into these drains, chances are that a large amount of Mangaluru’s poop is let into water bodies, untreated. Ultimately, our drinking water is mostly safe authorities claim, but do give a thought to the water bodies that are getting killed in the process. And to stop their slow death, it is important that the city and its growing population get proper underground drainage. But unfortunately, that has been not done for decades. And many residents having wells near these open drainage, complain about the well water being contaminated by the filthy water. And with monsoons starting in the nearest future, it will be a worse situation, to talk about.
This morning yours truly clicked a bunch of pictures of few open drainage spots- starting with open drainage on Kadri Road, opposite to City Hospital- imagine a couple of hospitals near to this drainage (City Hospital Tejasvini Hospital, Mangala Hospital) and along with a few eating joints. Talk about mosquitoes breeding on the filthy water. Next stop was at open drainage in Attavar- and KMC Hospital is located very close to this open drain; also a apartment is very much adjacent to this drain, and a couple of restaurants and bakeries. Near to the open drainage in Pandeshwar, you have Srinivas University, Geological Survey of India office, and a few eatery joints. At open drainage on MG Road, TMA Pai International Convention centre is right next to the drainage, and Sri Devi College is just a few meters away from the drainage.
In Mannagudda, residents are blaming MCC for allowing certain apartments to release their waste water right into open drainage, which has created a stinky situation in that vicinity. Talk about the open drainage that passes through Bejai Road and Bejai Church Road, the residents living in independent houses are the worst affected by the stench, rather than those living in a higher level in apartments. These were the only few spots that I could cover this morning, but there could be many more locations where people are affected by the stench and safety health hazards created by these open drainage. But is anyone from the MCC nor the district administration or the Govt Health Department has any concern towards the health factors of the citizens, like Dengue, Malaria spread by mosquitoes breeding on the filthy drainage water- I bet not.
In conclusion, a befitting reply should be shown to the candidates contesting for the corporators post in your ward- support the person only if she or he, is suitable to listen to your grievances and solve the civic issues- if not stay indoor, and don’t answer the door when they come to ask for your support. Let them solve the OPEN DRAINAGE problem, which is a health hazard menace.