Mangaluru: A non-profit organisation documented the practice of people in many villages burning plastic waste in public places, which will lead to serious health hazards, and a letter in this regard was sent to minister of health and family welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao.The Jana Shikshana Trust mentioned in its letter to the minister, that garbage heaps in public places, the use of single-use plastics, and the burning of plastic waste go unnoticed in Dakshina Kannada. The trust urged the minister to consider the issue seriously, and convene a special meeting of officials to enforce the law against such violations.
Trust director N Sheena Shetty said that the minister encouraged the initiatives of the organisation, especially the drives to eradicate all public dump yards. He said the minister was reminded about the urgent need for stringent measures that chief minister Siddaramaiah suggested in his instructions. “The district, as well as the state, would have become litter-free if departments and local administrations implemented those measures. The state would have become a role model for the entire state. Despite alerts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), directions from the Supreme Court, and a law against single-use plastic in Karnataka, waste is being dumped and set on fire in public gram panchayats in Dakshina Kannada. This happens despite the district having many material recovery facilities, which are models for the entire state,” the trust wrote in its letter to the minister.Shetty said that he urged the minister to ensure that all laws pertaining to waste management, especially against the use of single-use plastic and the burning of plastic, are enforced strictly in the district. “The authorities should take appropriate action against those who dump waste in public places under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. This will ensure Dakshina Kannada becomes a swachh district. The govt should carry out drives to make Dakshina Kannada completely free from the menace of open waste dumping,” he said.In fact, district minister Dinesh Gundu Rao was scheduled to meet the representatives of the trust on Feb 10. However, the minister’s tour programme was cancelled due to an unavoidable circumstances.
