‘This is All Election Gimmick by Palemar on Water Issue’- Mayor Harinath

By
Violet Pereira, Mangaluru. Team Mangalorean.
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‘This is All Election Gimmick by Palemar on Water Issue’- Mayor Harinath

“This is all election gimmick! If there was truth in Krishna Palemar’s claim, there would have been a rise in the number of people falling sick in the city. The corporation cannot act on the allegations made by Palemar, who was relying on results of a private laboratory that tested the water samples without following prescribed norms. A delegation of councillors from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party will visit the Thumbe vented dam soon to study the allegations made by Palemar that sewage is being let into the Netravathi”- MCC Mayor Harinath

Mangaluru: Tit-for-Tat! Terming the allegation as “election gimmick”, MCC Mayor Harinath during the corporation council meeting said, “If there was truth in former District-in-charge minister Krishna Palemar’s claim, there would have been a rise in the number of people falling sick in the city after consuming MCC supplied water. The corporation cannot act on the allegations made by Palemar, who was relying on results of a private laboratory that tested the water samples without following prescribed norms. A delegation of councillors from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party will visit the Thumbay vented dam soon to study the allegations made by Palemar that sewage is being let into the Netravathi.” The decision was taken by Mayor Harinath following an uproar by BJP councillors at the meeting.

The Opposition members in Mangaluru City Corporation council expressed concern over sewage being directly let into Nethravathi river at Thumbay upstream at 18 places under Bantwal Town Municipal Council jurisdiction. They demanded the mayor to urge the deputy commissioner to set up a treatment plant in Bantwal to treat the sewage. The Opposition members said tests have confirmed the presence of total coliform bacteria in alarming level in water that is being supplied to the citizens of Mangaluru. Even chicken waste is also being dumped directly into the river. Corrective steps need to be taken to check the flow of sewage to the river, they said.

Raising the issue, BJP councillor Sudhir Shetty said that the Congress had not seriously taken the allegation made by Krishna Palemar that water supplied to many parts of the city was contaminated as it contained more amount of coliform bacteria and faecal coliform bacteria. Palemar had visited Bantwal along with some councillors and found 18 places where sewage was openly let into the Netravathi under the jurisdiction of Bantwal Town Municipal Council, he said.

The opposition members said the municipal council, which falls within Legislative Assembly constituency of District In-Charge Minister B Ramanath Rai, should have set up a sewage treatment plant. Now, only underground sewage pipelines have been laid in Bantwal town, they said. In response to the statements made by opposition members, Mayor Harinath said, ” Water supplied to citizens is pure and potable. The people need not be anxious about it. The Opposition party members should not politicise the issue.”

Following a brief exchange of words between BJP and Congress councillors, Mayor Harinath said that a delegation would visit Thumbay in the nearest future.

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