Fish Water Waste Spilled on Road by Trucks Treacherous for Two-wheeler Riders as Per My Experience!

Fish Water Waste Spilled on Road by Trucks Treacherous for Two-wheeler Riders as Per My Experience!

• Fish Water Waste Spilled on Road by Trucks Treacherous for Two-wheeler Riders as Per My Experience! And this fish truck menace has been going on for years and the district administration nor the police have found a suitable way to stop it. And in the meantime, with cops not taking stern action by penalizing the drivers with hefty fines or seizure of such trucks, the routine of such fish trucks is still going on and putting the life of light vehicle motorists, especially in danger. And today evening, a careless fish truck driver, who had deliberately allowed the fish water waste to spill on the road, in creating a safety hazard- and unfortunately, I was a victim of that hazard.

Mangaluru: In the past years’ many Deputy commissioners, Police Commissioners, Police Superintendents, and other top-ranking authorities have been giving stringent warnings to truck drivers not to spill fish wastewater on the road, but unfortunately, there has been no end to such menace, which is putting motorists life in danger, especially the two-wheeler riders. The Fish Waste Water spillage on the City streets by the fish hauling vehicles is not TODAY’s or YESTERDAY’s issue, it has been going on since years- and complaints of the same issue had been pouring during the phone-in programme started by then Police Commissioner Chandrashekar, then the same complaints were heard by the next Police Commissioners T R Suresh, Sandeep Patil and presently by Dr P S Harsha- but has earned no success. And this will make one wonder, whether this is kind of a ‘ROCKET SCIENCE’ or what, to be rectified?

As per guidelines laid down by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its order dated 2 July 2015, that anyone found discharging of wastewater on roads will be slapped with hefty fine followed by the seizure of vehicles. The district administration and police even had served notices to the fish truck owners to follow the guidelines, but all in vain. As of now, you will see fish trucks spilling fish wastewater on the roads, thereby making the roads slippery, and two-wheeler riders have to face the consequences. Earlier police commissioner Sandeep Patil had directed the police personnel and other concerned departments to make sure that these rules are strictly enforced, and violators slapped with hefty fines, like Rs 5000 when caught for the first time, and if the driver is seen discharging fish water on the road for the second time, their vehicle will be seized.

But seeing the situation, none of the fish hauling drivers have adhered to the rules, and without any fear of being caught by the cops, or could be “I don’t care” kind of attitude, the streets starting from Fish Dock-Bunder passing through the City on their way to their local destinations or destinations in Kerala, are seen with fish wastewater, intentionally spilled by the drivers. For a long time, the police department had been claiming there were no set rules to prevent this nuisance. However, following frequent complaints from citizens/residents and media reports, the Mangaluru City police even though had followed the model by their Kerala counterparts, but nothing much has changed. Many Fish hauling trucks are still seen spilling fish wastewater onto the roads.

In the past I have made various reports as to how dangerous it is for the two-wheeler riders when fish wastewater is spilled on the road, resulting in accidents, leading to injuries or fatalities. And today I was one such victim, riding a scooter and faced all the inconveniences due to a fish truck having spilled fish wastewater. It was around 6:00 pm on Friday 12 June 2020, I was on my way from Kadri towards Kulshekar. When I was near Jimmy’s Super Market right before the road hump, I lost balance on my scooter, due to the slippery road covered with oily fish substance- and I was hurt on my leg due to the skid. Even though I didn’t feel the pain of the wound at the time of the incident, but later it became worse, and I had to visit City Hospital for treatment.

Quickly getting back on my scooter, I tried to stop the driver of the truck bearing registration number KL 11 BC 7524, by yelling at him, but since he understood only Malayalam, he kept on driving. I didn’t give up, instead followed him, and reaching near Nanthoor circle, I stopped my scooter right in front of his truck and called a sub Inspector on duty there, who quickly came to the spot. In the meantime, the fish wastewater was leaking heavily from the truck and messed up the whole area. I clicked a few photos for proof in the case, it could be helpful later. And when I took a photo of the driver he cursed me saying “Go ahead, who cares?” in his arrogant Malayalam language? But what I noticed was that the Sub Inspector slapped a fine of Rs 500, and let the truck move on. Other than the fine, no action was taken nor the truck seized at least for a day-so that the spillage of fish water won’t put other riders in danger.

What kind of traffic rules do we have? You pay a small amount of fine, and then you are back on the road- to violate the rules one more time- and the same routine goes on. There is no entry of the driver’s violation into the system, so that next time the cops know how many violations he had so far. Taking a simple fine from a traffic rule violator and allow him or her to still keep driving or riding, without stern action or hefty fine or punishment- doesn’t make any sense. And that’s the reason we see violations or accidents committed by the repeaters. In spite of registering several complaints, the authorities had failed to initiate any action against vehicles discharging wastewater on roads. The drivers close the knob and prevent wastewater from being discharged while entering Kerala. But laxity on the part of local officials here had allowed drivers to ignore discharge of wastewater along the road here.

However, when some of the transporters’ associations had already brought out informative pamphlets urging owners of tempos and mini goods vehicles not to discharge wastewater on to roads, but that has not made any difference. The transporters had demanded a suitable place to discharge wastewater collected in tanks attached to vehicles, an issue which has to be addressed by the district administration, but that’s not followed even by many truckers. Even today, if you examine closely, about 90% of these smaller fish hauling trucks don’t even have a wastewater tank, and they ply on the streets keeping the wastewater tap open.

Even after repeated complaints of foul smell and spilling of wastewater by goods vehicles transporting fish along the three coastal districts appear to have had no impact either on the respective district administrations or the Transport and Police Departments. Apart from the vehicles carrying fresh fish, those vehicles hauling rotten/waste fish to fish meal factories are also creating more nuisances by spilling stinky fish water on the streets, thereby adding to residents’ woes. This problem is eased only during the fishing ban period of two-months when fish is not transported. To stop this menace is not so hard, if the administration makes a strong decision, and also if the traffic police get into action. But it seems like no one cares, and everyone has turned a blind eye to this issue which has been existing for years.

My humble request to the Deputy Commissioner Ms. Sindhu Roopesh, Police Commissioner Dr P S Harsha, ACP (Traffic) Manjunath Shetty, RTO and other concerned authorities to please…please.. come up with a proper solution to end this fish truck menace, which is putting other motorists life in danger. Mine was a minor accident, but you never know, fish water-laden slippery road could lead to serious accidents. I only hope and pray, that these respected authorities that I mentioned above, will surely come up with a good plan of action, and stop this fish wastewater spillage from fish hauling trucks at the earliest, before an innocent life of a two-wheeler rider is lost! Thank You!

Also Read Related Articles:

• Only Promises NO Action by Officials! Trucks Spilling Fish Waste Water on Rd Still Continues

• A Stinky Issue Gone Fishy to Deal With? Spilling Fish Waste Water on Roads still NOT Under Control

• Despite PC’s Stern WARNING, Vehicles Still Seen Spilling Fish Waste on City Streets!

• Police Commissioner to get Tough on Vehicles Spilling Fish Waste Water on Streets