Udupi: Protest against official’s statement

Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 05 March 2011: Members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) laid siege to the taluk office here on Friday in protest against “Tahsildar Prasanna’s statement giving a clean chit to Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL)”. President of the district unit of KRRS Vijaykumar Hegde said that Mr. Prasanna’s statement in a Kannada daily two weeks ago giving clean chit to UPCL on environmental issues was misleading and he should retract it. He sought to know on what basis Mr. Prasanna had given a clean chit to UPCL regarding its ash pond.

 

Mr. Prasanna tried to explain his position to the protestors. But the protestors stuck to their stand. Later Mr. Prasanna told presspersons that he along with a team of officials had gone to inspect the ash pond of UPCL on the direction of the Deputy Commissioner on February 19. No problems were noticed at the ash pond on that day. He had not given any clean chit to UPCL. A Kannada daily had misquoted him on the issue. The matter had been taken up with that daily.

 

 

He said that the taluk office was aware of the problems faced by the people in that area. During an inspection, it had been found that two wells in Tenka village had saline water. While the issue of 100 wells being polluted at Kalachur area had not come to the notice of the taluk office, the Health Department might have forwarded the report on pollution of these wells to the higher authorities. Fifteen persons whose lands were affected by saline water of UPCL had been given compensation.

 

He said that he was in regular touch with the higher authorities on the problems faced by the people in the villages surrounding the thermal plant. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) had issued a notice to UPCL on the fly ash issue, Mr. Prasanna said.

 

- The Hindu / Udayavani