Udyavara: On the outcry and complaints of local fishermen, about thousand of udyavar River fish –colonics found dead in an area of 2 kms, due to effluents discharged into the river at –Ankudru and Gajini by 3 fish-meal industries, demanding a quick solution to the water /air pollution created by thoughtless industrialists in the water/air pollution created By thoughtless industrialists in the region, Prasanna of Udupi taluk as Tahsildar inspected the area on Thursday, December 12, and visited points at which the effluents (refuse materials) were released into the river killing fish in large numbers there.
The fish-meal units functioned without a permit from local GP and their effluents were not desalinated, thus being poisonous to marine creatures locals charged.
The units also created health problems for local villagers, like skin ailments, breathing disorders, stomach-aches and regular coughs.
The units also released thick smoke injuring the health of neighbouring residents, who were thinking of moving out. The PDO of Gram Panchayat, one Panchakshari Hiremath, was the villain behind the whole problem, who issued licences to the 3 units without Grama Sabha approval, the local leader Machado informed the Tahsildar, who in a meeting told the locals that he would report the matter to DC(Dr MT Reju).
The units had confessed that they were de-contaminating the effluents and releasing them into the sea, not in the Udyavara river.
An officer accompanying the Tahsildar, from Pollution Control Board, merely said that the fish died due to scarcity of Oxygen in river water around Ankudru.
A member of GP said the problem of fish dying in large numbers was recent, since 2009. There was no treatment plant nearby.