BENGALURU: A suo motu case has been registered by Upa Lokayukta Justice B Veerappa for dumping bio-medical waste into the Huliyar lake bed in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk in Tumakuru district. He sought a response from 18 officials, including the Assistant Commissioner of Tiptur Division, the Tahsildar of Chikkanayakanahalli taluk, and the Executive Officer of the Taluk Panchayat, Chief Officer of the Town Panchayat of Huliyar, officials of the Minor Irrigation Department, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and the Health and Family Welfare Department.
Treating the alleged inaction on the part of those officials in taking steps under the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) rules, 1998, to protect the water body, as maladministration under the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, the Upa Lokayukta directed them to take action as per law against the persons who are dumping medical waste in the lake bed and submit the report by April 27.
Taking suo motu cognisance of a media report which highlighted that the medical waste is being dumped into Huliyar lake bed after it was prevented from dumping in hospital premises, Justice Veerappa marked a copy of the order to the Minister of Water Resources and Tumakuru District In-charge Minister and Deputy Commissioner for necessary action.
Review through video conference
On the other hand, Upa Lokayukta Justice K N Phaneendra reviewed the steps taken on the suomoto complaints he registered concerning Dharwad district through video-conference from his office. During this, he queried about the smoke covering for about 3.5 km owing to a fire erupting in the solid waste management at Hosayallapura, causing inconvenience.
The Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad informed that it took three days for them to douse the fire in the unit. He also informed that 4.50 lakh metric tonne legacy waste in the solid waste management unit would be disposed of in 18 months, and a compound wall will be constructed around the unit using the funds from the 16th Finance Scheme.
Justice Phaneendra also reviewed the steps taken by the Dharwad district administration for cleaning and desilting of Kolikere, for which Rs 6 crore was sanctioned, preventing the joining of underground drainage (UGD) water to the Kelageri lake, for which Rs 30 crore was sanctioned after his visit to the district.
He also reviewed the measures taken for addressing issues highlighted during his visit to the District Government Hospital and the Dr B R Ambedkar Post-Metric Girls and Boys Hostels, and about the shifting of the slaughterhouse in Mangalwarpet.