'Discharge of waste water from lorries to be checked'

Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil has said that a sub-committee had been set up to suggest measures to prevent trucks carrying fish from discharging foul-smelling waste on the roads.

The odour of fish from the lorries and the discharge of waste water on the roads has been causing a lot of hardship to the public.

The district administration will implement the recommendations of the committee to ensure that lorries do not discharge waste water on the roads. The authorities are also exploring the possibility of transporting fish meal on floating barges to fish meal factories in Ullal, the deputy commissioner said.

The officer said that the district administration had sought assistance from the Tourism Department to construct 20 jetties from Kuloor to Ullal in order to promote tourism in the district.

“The jetties can be used to float restaurants and local boat houses. High quality jetties need to be laid to do this,” Senthil added.

He also said that the idea of organising a river festival was to show how rivers could be used to promote tourism.

“The government has already approved of the construction of a bridge at Mooralapattana, connecting Arala in Bantwal taluk and Muthooru in Mangaluru taluk. It will take a minimum two years to complete the bridge,” said the officer.

On asked about sand, Senthil said that illegality involving sand extraction is a major problem in the district. The bathymetry survey of riverbeds in the CRZ areas needs to be conducted every year to assess the quantum of excess sand that may be extracted to facilitate the movement of boats, he explained.

“Bidders have come forward to extract sand in the non-CRZ areas. The district administration is planning on handing over some sand blocks to the local gram panchayats to manage. Once the extraction in the non-CRZ areas begins, the district will not face any problem of sand shortage,” said Senthil.

He added that strict action also needs to be taken against illegal extraction and transport of sand to solve the crisis in the district.

Senthil said that the Smart City Mission in Mangaluru will give thrust to automation in order to mine data. “The collected data can be used for the scientific development of the city. It will also be used for streamlining the administration process,” he explained.

Speaking further, Senthil said that the roads developed under the Mission will reduce carriage way and increase the pedestrian paths.

It will also ensure that the footpaths will not be encroached upon by vehicles. Some roads will also have a dedicated track for cycles.

The deputy commissioner declared that Mangaluru was a brand by itself since a long time. Owing to some untoward incidents, however, the image of Mangaluru has been tarnished, he rued.

“There is a need to infuse the positivity in the minds of the people to recreate Brand Mangaluru,” he pointed out.