The Lok Adalat, organised by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority on Saturday, was flooded with complaints with respect to the ongoing Metro work, encroachment of lakes and garbage mess.
The Lok Adalat, conducted by Justice H N Nagamohan Das and environmentalist A N Yellappa Reddy, observed that the Metro work near Vani Vilas Hospital and Victoria Hospital at K R Market is creating a lot of noise and pollution, which is affecting newborns and their mothers as well as other patients.
The Managing Director of BMRCL, Pradeep Singh Kharola, said, “We are aware of the dust pollution in the area. We have imported equipment to control dust. The Metro line runs under the hospital and the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) will start work in a couple of days and we can’t control the noise pollution.”
Referring to complaints on the garbage problems in the city, Justice Das said, “Recently, I came to know about an incident where a stray cow had died and plastic was found inside the animal.”
He asked the BBMP officials to identify places to dispose of the garbage.
BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana said around 5,000 illegal clinics are functioning in the city and they just dump medical waste everywhere.
“We will direct them to register and get licences in three months so that we can collect waste directly from them,” he said.
Lake Encroachment
Justice Das directed the BDA, BBMP and BWSSB and Urban Development Department to remove encroachments near lakes.
BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana said, “It is mostly poor people who have encroached land near lakes and we have to shift them to other places.”
He said this requires the Slum Development Board’s cooperation.